Article September 4, 1915 Issue

In a recent issue an evangelist made this statement:...

S. T. Downs

Terre Haute (Ind.) Tribune

In a recent issue an evangelist made this statement: "The Christian is the one who loves those whom he does not like." The report also quotes him as saying in the same sermon, "It is not possible to be charitable without being a Christian." These statements seem the very limit of inconsistency, following as they do a tirade against Christian Science, and most followers of the Master would turn the second statement around to read, "It is not possible to be a Christian without being charitable." This attack, like all such attacks, will certainly turn a goodly number to investigate for themselves, and they will soon learn that instead of "foolishness, humbug, and nonsense," as our brother stated, Christian Science teaches the truth about God and man, and man's relation to God. They will find too that Christian Science has healed all manner of discord and misery, including every known disease, in proof of the accuracy of its teaching, and that its prayers, which were also criticized, are effectual.

The statement by the critic that Christian Science does not "allow for the sacred deity of Christ," calls for comment. It is possible, and quite probable, that the evangelist uses the terms Jesus and Christ as synonymous, but Christian Science does not; and this shows that if he had made any but the most superficial investigation of Christian Science before presuming to criticize it, he would not make the statement just quoted, since it is very much in error. In Christian Science the term Jesus is employed chiefly to distinguish the physical man, or humanity of the Master, from the eternal Christ he came to reveal. The definition of Christ as given on page 583 of the Christian Science text-book,"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, is, "The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error." Christian Science, on the other hand, neither deifies Jesus nor reduces him to the common level of humanity, and the best authority for the teaching that he was not God is the Master himself. Jesus never taught that he was God or equal with God, and a number of his sayings and the character of his mission are decidedly inconsistent with the theory that he was God, as, for instance, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." A great many other citations can be given to substantiate Christian Science teaching on this subject, a few of which are: John x. 33-36; xiv. 10-12, 28; xx. 17. If critics and searchers for the truth will but read the New Testament in the light thrown upon it by Christian Science, the soundness of this doctrine will become immediately apparent.

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