Article April 18, 1914 Issue

Christian Science is not medicine, but theology, and it is...

Marie Hartman—Nunspeet, Holland. (Translation.)

Nunspeets Nieuws en Advertentieblad

Christian Science is not medicine, but theology, and it is founded on the Bible alone, more especially on the teachings of Jesus. It was not medical knowledge which gave Jesus power to destroy sin, sickness, and death, but his knowledge of God as the great and only cause of all that is, the God of whom James writes: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." To all who follow his teachings, Jesus points out the way to obtain such an understanding of God that everybody shall say, as he did: "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always."

Christian Science teaches that prayer is answered when men have learned to understand and obey God's law and will. Prayer, therefore, is listening to God, and is not trying to change a decree of God, the all-wise and omniscient. Some reflection will quickly show the presumption of such trying. Communion with God enabled Jesus to destroy sin, sickness, and death, and the signs, or the works he did, are in fulfilment of God's law, not the interference with, or change of, the laws which govern the universe. Jesus possessed this knowledge of God in all its fulness, and nowhere is it written that this knowledge is not obtainable by each child of God. On the contrary, Jesus says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." Christian Science teaches us so clearly how to become conscious of what it means to be God's child, and thus be able to understand the Father and to express Him, that it has saved thousands upon thousands from sin and sickness, and has taught them also to give this knowledge to others.

As the foregoing will show, the only purpose of Christian Science is to serve and love God under all circumstances; and Jesus himself said that faith must show itself in deeds. Any Christian must admit that in such a teaching there is no danger or quackery. The great growth of the Christian Science movement is the best proof of the truth of this religion and of the blessings it brings. By far the greater part of the Christian Scientists came to it because they were ill or had been pronounced incurable. It is not surprising that they are thankful for the teaching which brought them liberty.

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