Article November 17, 1917 Issue

Christian Science does not contradict the Scriptures, as...

B. W. Oppenheim—Bonners Ferry, Idaho

Kootenai Valley Times

Christian Science does not contradict the Scriptures, as was asserted by a recent visiting evangelist. What the gentleman could justly say was that his interpretation of the Bible did not agree with that of Mrs. Eddy, the author of the Christian Science textbook, from which he quoted. No one has made this plainer than Mrs. Eddy herself. Theologians ought not to feel impelled to make intemperate attacks upon the conscientious beliefs of others. If those beliefs are wrong, an appeal to the reason rather than the prejudices of mankind should be sufficient to convince them of that fact.

Christian Science not only harmonizes with the Scriptures, but is based absolutely upon them and upon nothing else. The Christian Science textbook is what it purports to be, a "Key to the Scriptures." Those who will are invited to reread the Scriptures with this key, and to decide for themselves whether Mrs. Eddy's interpretation will not bear the tests of reason and practice. The Bible was originally written for an Oriental race in a diction full of imagery and poetical conception. Science and Health has presented the eternal truths of the Bible in modern English and in a style of exact statement demanded by the scientific development of our day. Christian Science has brought to this age a rational, scientific knowledge of God, a conception of God so intimate and close to each us that His love and wisdom are available to solve our every human problem. It has revived primitive Christianity by revealing to man the possibility of being freed now, not hereafter, from sin and sickness and discord. The proof of this is seen in the effect of its teachings upon the lives and the practice of its adherents.

Much criticism has been directed against Christian Science because of what is conceived to be its belief about Jesus the Christ. The ordinary theological view is that the man Jesus was himself God, and that his perfection is unattainable by man. A Christian Scientist regards Christ Jesus as the perfect man, to be emulated and followed, with the assurance that the works which he accomplished by reason of his knowledge of God are possible to every individual through right living and right thinking—through consecration. The Christ is that perfect understanding of God which enabled Jesus to become the example or Wayshower for mankind. It is not true that Christian Science is a religion without a Saviour. It is founded absolutely upon the idea that the teachings of Jesus, if followed and practiced, will and do save mankind from all evil; but Jesus the Christ becomes a Saviour to us only to the extent that his teaching is practiced.

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