Article August 18, 1917 Issue

Christian Science presents points of disagreement with...

Samuel Greenwood—Victoria, B. C., Canada

The Colonist

Christian Science presents points of disagreement with what has been called orthodox religion, and also with what might be called orthodox philosophy. Mrs. Eddy made no attempt to reconcile her interpretation of Scriptural teaching with prevailing theories and doctrines; and although Christian Science was not stated as something new, in the sense that the truth about God has always existed, it was so hopelessly different from the religious thought of the age that it was necessary to establish a new organization through which to present its teachings and their demonstration.

Christian Science is not "disruptive" either in purpose or in practice, except as it is successful in overcoming evil. The Christian Science church was organized, not for the sake of adding a new denomination to Christendom, but—since the older churches would not receive it—for the sake of religious freedom. Christian Science is not inimical to anything that is good and useful, or that is helping human beings to live better lives, by whatever name it may be called.

Accepting the Scriptural declaration that God is the only creator, Christian Science teaches most unequivocally that evil has no place in His creation and is not a quality pertaining to His children, but is only humanly supposed, accepted, and obeyed. Satan is referred to in Scripture as a deceiver, which, given its impersonal definition, would mean that evil is a deception. Jesus saw it, not as the truth, but as a lie, and he destroyed it as that which has no right to exist. Even the laws of our land teach that men should not make evil so real as to obey it, that is, give it power over them. The argument of a correspondent, that because Christian Science teaches the unreality of evil, mortals have no need of a savior, is no more logical than to assume that because there is no truth or reality in mistakes about mathematics, mortals have no need of schools in which to be taught the correct use of numbers.

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