Article January 13, 1917 Issue

It is not enough for one to read the Christian Science...

John M. Tutt

The Kansas City (Mo.) Times

It is not enough for one to read the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, to qualify as a righteous critic; he must understand it. A man may read the Bible and declare it to be a hopeless jumble of inconsistencies, but such a critic does not understand the Bible. No man can understand the Bible and fail to love it. No man can understand Science and Health and fail to love both it and the Bible. When one understands the teaching of Christian Science, he finds it to be identical with Christ Jesus' doctrine, and that it varies from other Christian sects mainly in its greater degree of spirituality. Christian Science does not accept the materialistic explanation of God, of man, or of the universe, and hence emphasizes the spiritual import of the Bible. But this does not mean that Christian Science repudiates any part of God's scheme of salvation; far from that, Christian Science insists upon an understanding of every essential of Christianity.

Where does Christian Science place Christ Jesus in the scheme of salvation? In the words of St. Peter, "There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Christian Scientists believe in the immaculate conception, in Jesus' supreme and selfless sacrifice, in the example his life furnished for all mankind, in his own designation of himself as "the way." They believe in the divinity of Christ, the humanity of Jesus, the atonement, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension. They believe in repentance, forgiveness of sins, reformation. They believe in prayer. They believe in Christian healing. They believe in the golden rule. Above all, they believe the essentials of Christianity involve individual practice more than profession.

To be sure Christian Science does not agree fully with other Christian denominations in the interpretation of the Bible, but let it be reiterated that Christian Science accepts the Bible in its spiritual import unreservedly. When the other Christian sects subordinate the material to the spiritual, they will comprehend how it was possible that Mrs. Eddy, although maligned and persecuted, reviled not again, but wrote instead, "I love the orthodox church; and, in time, that church will love Christian Science" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 111). Christian Science is the revival of primitive Christianity; it casts out sin and heals the sick. In fifty years it has encompassed the earth with the gospel of salvation from sin, disease, and death. It has brought to millions the evangelic message, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people."

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