Article July 10, 1915 Issue

The Rev. Dr. — in a recent issue continues his attacks...

Ezra W. Palmer

The Grand Junction (Col.) News

The Rev. Dr. — in a recent issue continues his attacks on Christian Science. From his remarks he is evidently under the impression that ignorance of Christian Science is a qualification to pass judgment on it, a misconception which does no harm to Christian Science but renders misstatements ridiculous to every person who has made the least investigation of this teaching. If this critic will study Christian Science with an eye single to the truth, he will find how far afield his present views are, and thus preclude the necessity for them to be publicly corrected in the press. Christian Science is too well known, has proved its worth in too many battles with sin, sickness, poverty, and other ills of humanity, to be brushed aside by the ipse dixits of a writer who is evidently laboring under the illusion that his bald statements will be accepted unconditionally.

The reverend critic starts his attack by attempting to make it appear that the Christian Science lecturer was wrong in declaring that "religion can heal sickness and destroy sin," to which the lecturer added that the "words of Jesus made it plain," the contention of this writer being that religion had nothing to do with the matter. Evidently he had in mind a system of doctrines, forms, ceremonies, and creeds which we quite agree are totally inadequate to demonstrate the healing power of God as Jesus and his apostles did, and as all believers who understand the life, works, and words of Jesus can do today. His concept is foreign to Christian Science, which teaches that religion is a vital, genuine fellowship with God, which manifests itself in healing the sick, restoring the sinner, and bringing the kingdom of God to men here and now. "Jesus established his church and maintained his mission on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught his followers that his religion had a divine Principle, which would cast out error and heal both the sick and the sinning" (Science and Health, p. 136). It is this religion the Christian Science lecturer referred to when he added, "The words of Jesus made it plain" how religion can heal sickness and destroy sin.

The emptiness of the further claim of this critic will then be seen when he declared, "It is difficult to find any words in the Bible that warrant us in saying that religion heals sickness." Evidently this critic has overlooked the healing works accomplished by Jesus and recorded all through the four gospels. He has also overlooked the glorious works of the great apostles who healed the sick and raised the dead, and the wonderful story of the early Christians who carried the healing power of God throughout the length and breadth of the then civilized world. These healing works, proving by actual demonstration the might of God, caused the tremendous spread of early Christianity and gave it power to demolish the entrenched systems of pagan worship. Spiritual healing was lost three hundred years after the ascension, because Christians ceased to rely wholly on God. Pagan rites, dead formulas, and empty ceremonies took the place of spiritual unity with the Father, with the consequent degeneracy of Christianity and the evils and sufferings of the centuries that followed. How can this critic assume that the Bible gives no warrant for healing sickness by prayer when we have these words of Jesus: "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give."

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The Rev. Dr. — in a recent issue continues his attacks...

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