Article March 13, 1920 Issue

In an otherwise excellent editorial entitled "Christmas"...

A. O. Freel

Corvallis (Ore.) Gazette-Times

In an otherwise excellent editorial entitled "Christmas" in the Gazette-Times, it is unfortunate that its author should go so far out of his way as to insert a reference to Christian Science, which is not calculated to inform but rather to misinform. The critic asserts, in effect, that Mrs. Eddy denies that Christ Jesus ever existed in a bodily form. It would be difficult indeed to concoct a statement which would be more misleading, or which would show a more complete lack of a reasonable comprehension of Mrs. Eddy's clear and concise teaching on this point.

The critic appears to have overlooked entirely the fact that the terms Christ and Jesus are not properly synonymous, though they are often so used. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 333) by Mrs. Eddy, we read: "Jesus was a human name, which belonged to him in common with other Hebrew boys and men, for it is identical with the name Joshua, the renowned Hebrew leader. On the other hand, Christ is not a name so much as the divine title of Jesus. Christ expresses God's spiritual, eternal nature;" while the term Christ Jesus, or according to the Hebrew, Jesus the Christ, more fully expresses his dual personality. It was the spiritual idea, or Christ, to which the Master alluded when he addressed himself to Philip as follows: "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me?" On another occasion he pointed out the eternal nature of the Christ, and declared to the questioning Jews, "Before Abraham was, I am," and again he said to his disciples, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." In making these statements, Jesus was not referring to his corporeal human self. Mrs. Eddy throws further light on this subject on page 29 of Science and Health where she writes as follows, "The Christ dwelt forever an idea in the bosom of God, the divine Principle of the man Jesus," and on page 334 of the same book she adds, "The invisible Christ was imperceptible to the so-called personal senses, whereas Jesus appeared as a bodily existence."

The Bible, together with "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, constitute the two textbooks of Christian Science. They are the statute books of life. From them the student learns the truth which is religion, Science, and medicine. Through her spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy has revealed the primal facts of being as taught by the great Way-shower, who overthrew the claims of sin, disease, and death with the understanding of spiritual law. Merely to believe in the bodily existence of Christ Jesus gets one no nearer heaven than to believe in the personal existence of Daniel or David. It is the understanding of what he taught and the living up to his injunctions that heal and save. Christian Science is not alone engaged in giving to mankind the correct interpretation of the Master's teaching; it is also enabling its followers to practice his commands, to preach the gospel, to heal the sick, and to cast out demons, and it is doing this with "signs following."

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