Article February 28, 1920 Issue

In a series of lectures given in Wabash, statements have...

C. W. Hale—Wabash, Ind.

Plain Dealer

In a series of lectures given in Wabash, statements have been made pertaining to Christian Science that are in many cases, especially the quotations reported in your paper, serious misrepresentations of the teachings of Christian Science. It is hard to believe that a man of our critic's standing would purposely make statements regarding another's religion without being absolutely sure of the truth of his knowledge of that religion. However, when one knows that what this gentleman has said is wholly at variance with what Christian Science teaches, and when one also knows that he has had his attention repeatedly called through the press to these erroneous remarks, one is led to believe either that he is not basing his assertions upon personal understanding of the facts and has failed to note the corrections called to his attention, or that he is purposely misrepresenting. I cannot believe that the latter inference is true, and feel sure that the statements made were induced more by zeal without knowledge, than by a malicious purpose to attempt to tear down a religion that has brought reformation and regeneration to countless thousands of intelligent people.

The assertion that "the Bible is plain enough not to need any aids for its interpretation," sounds strange, coming from a theological student who has probably spent years in the study of various commentaries on the Bible. The tireless search for knowledge that will unlock the Scriptures has been going on for ages, and will continue in mankind's earnest seeking for the truth. A key to the power revealed in Biblical teaching has been eagerly sought, and Christian Scientists have found it in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, which not only reveals the spiritual teachings of the Bible, but enables its students to demonstrate its statements with scientific certainty.

It is difficult to understand how any Bible student could assert, as our good brother does, that Christ Jesus was God, that "spiritual healing stands for the deity of Jesus," and that Christian Science only "stands for the divinity of Jesus." Certainly to any unbiased person the teachings of Christ Jesus are perfectly clear and cannot be misunderstood, since he repeatedly designated himself as the "Son of God," the "Son of man," and also said to the young ruler as recorded in Matthew, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God," a statement that cannot be misunderstood or misinterpreted. He definitely states in the fifth chapter of John: "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do, . . . For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man."

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