Article January 15, 1916 Issue

It is difficult to understand how any one, even though but...

Thomas E. Boland

The Lebanon (Pa.) News

It is difficult to understand how any one, even though but slightly acquainted with the subject, could style the text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," the Bible of Christian Scientists. The latter part of the title of the book clearly indicates its character as a commentary on or explanation of the Bible. Had the critic read as far as page 497 of the book mentioned, he would there have found certain illuminating statements concerning Christian Science, called tenets, which all Christian Scientists accept. The first of these reads: "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life."

It is not a difficult matter to distort the meaning of any book by taking from it certain phrases robbed of their context, grouping them, and then drawing an entirely erroneous conclusion. In the Christian Science text-book the definition of "God" (p. 587) is expressed by certain words, among which are "Mind; Soul; Spirit." When it is understood that the author of Science and Health in speaking of man (p. 516) as "coexistent and eternal with God," means the spiritual man described in Gen. i. 26, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," the true meaning is seen to be just the opposite of that conveyed by our critic.

The account of the spiritual creation which God saw was "very good," and of man as "his own image," is contrasted in Science and Health with the material account of creation, in which both the man and the ground are cursed (see Gen. iii. 14, 17). As Mrs. Eddy is unwavering in her acceptance of God as Spirit, which all Christian churches profess to believe, she naturally designates the spiritual creation as the true, and the material creation as the untrue or the "lie." Again our friend is quoted as using several disjointed phrases from Science and Health to draw the conclusion that Christian Science teaches "man is God." The Christian Science text-book very definitely disposes of such a deduction in the words on page 480, "Man is not God, and God is not man."

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