Article March 22, 1919 Issue

The time is not distant when a minister's personal opinion...

Judge Clifford P. Smith

Lynn (Mass.) Item

The time is not distant when a minister's personal opinion of other religions than his own will not be considered worth reporting. Why should it be? Any man's reasons for his own faith are entitled to respectful attention, but no man's lack of appreciation for other people's religions has any public value. Such pronouncements, moreover, are apt to be ill informed and unjust. Take, for instance, a sermon which was given space in the Item recently. The speaker began the attack on Christian Science by saying that it is not Christian, "because Jesus recognized and sympathized with the victims of evil." The speaker's implication was that Christian Scientists do not recognize and sympathize with the victims of evil. Such an aspersion was at best the personal opinion of a sectarian, and of one who was either not well informed or not able to speak with just appreciation.

The same speaker intimated that Christian Science cures by "thought suggestion," that it cures by "the potency of some outside personality or organized claim," and that it does not cure organic disease. These statements also illustrate the fact that sectarians who try to deprecate or minimize the good done by other denominations are very likely to be ill informed and unjust.

Christian Science heals by means of law—by means of spiritual or divine law. Mrs. Eddy discovered and declared that "there is a law of God applicable to healing" (Science and Health, p. 463). Such being the case, Christian Science healing is no more limited to a class of diseases than the law of God is limited in power or effect. Moreover, the supposed distinction between organic and functional diseases is more useful for criticism than it is for therapeutics. In a recent issue of the New York Medical Journal the editor said, "Either there is no such thing as a functional disease, or every disease is functional."

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

Send a comment to the editors
NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Article
There has been and still is much talk in regard to the so-called...
March 22, 1919
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit