Article July 27, 1912 Issue

One of the oldest questions in Christian history is, "What...

Edward W. Dickey

West Coast Magazine

One of the oldest questions in Christian history is, "What must I do to be saved?" It is certain that "there is none other name [way] under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." The answer is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Christendom has been trying for two thousand years to determine what constituted an acceptable belief in Christ, or in other words the Christ-way, and in so doing has externalized itself into something like one hundred and sixty-five different sects with a widely divergent sense of creed and practise. This in and of itself constitutes prima facie evidence that none have discovered the Christ-way. It is not possible for the Christian to believe them all, nor to reconcile their different interpretations of Christ, as they are in many respects irreconcilable both as to statement and practise.

Quite apart from what critics may say in the matter, and apart from all discussion and debate thereon, there must exist and always has existed the truth about God, man, and Christ. In other words, there must be and always has been a Christ Science, or Christian Science. The very existence of being proclaims a truth about it, and the very existence of the Christ-way proclaims an exact truth about it, and this is of necessity a scientific way and a Christian way. Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." This Christ-knowing, or Science of Christianity, must from its very nature be infinite in scope and purpose and all inclusive. Again, this Christ-way cannot from its very nature be discerned from a material point of view. Being the way of Christ-knowledge, it must be built upon the everlasting foundation of demonstration, which emphasizes a correlative fact, that a person who has not tested and proved Christian Science is not in a position to pass judgment upon it. This is an axiomatic truth wherever and whenever Christian Science may be under discussion, as much so as tough mathematics were being debated.

Christian Science, in stating what constitutes an acceptable belief in Christ, declares first that Christ came to do the will of God, which is in accord with his statement, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." In doing the work of the Father, he therefore acted in accord with the changeless will and plan of God, whom the Scriptures declare is without "variableness, neither shadow of turning." When, therefore, he healed the sick and the sinner, he did it the only right way. Christian Science further shows that the one right way is a changeless way and extends throughout the cycles of eternity. Further, Christian Science declares that the evils which Christ came to destroy were not of God, or Truth, therefore not real. It is upon the basis of the unreal or fictitious claim of evil to power and reality that Christian Science destroys all that is not like God. It is doing what a writer once very aptly described as "turning things upside down in order to turn them right side up." Christian Science does not deny the need of a Saviour, the atoning power of Christ, nor the spiritual value of the resurrection and ascension. It is true that in many of these theological points it disagrees with the teaching of other churches, but Mrs. Eddy points to the fruits of her teaching as sufficient evidence of their spiritual source and worth.

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