Article December 6, 1924 Issue

The Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures"...

Albert John Windle, Committee on Publication for Nottinghamshire, England,—Nottingham

Guardian

The Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, has been the means of revealing to hundreds of thousands of men and women that it is possible to understand the Scriptures in such a way that God can be relied upon to heal "all thy diseases" and to solve all life's problems. These have turned away from other churches because they have found something better. Christian Scientists rely on God, and are daily proving that their religion is making them better men and women. The Christian Science teaching concerning God, the Christ, and the Holy Ghost is different from the interpretation the other churches put upon these. But every evidence is found in the Bible to support its teaching. The first tenet of the Christian Science church is, "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life" (Science and Health, p. 497). The difference in interpretation just referred to is so vital that it results in the "signs following," which Jesus promised when he said, "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

Christian Science refuses to admit that God created anything that is not spiritual and good. Mrs. Eddy says in the Christian Science textbook (p. 525), "Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not make." After affirming the allness of God, to admit that evil—sin and disease—really exists is both illogical and inconsistent. In the same book (p. 472) Mrs. Eddy says: "All reality is in God and His creation, harmonious and eternal. That which He creates is good, and He makes all that is made. Therefore the only reality of sin, sickness, or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring belief, until God strips off their disguise." The understanding of this statement would enable any one to heal the sick. There would then be no need of arguments. There is no statement in Christian Science which "would make God responsible for all the evil there is in the world." On the contrary, Christian Science does teach that in order to rid the world of evil one must know God aright. In "Unity of Good" (pp. 9, 10), Mrs. Eddy writes, "What is the cardinal point of the difference in my metaphysical system? This: that by knowing the unreality of disease, sin, and death, you demonstrate the allness of God. This difference wholly separates my system from all others."

Christian Science practitioners heal through knowing the allness of God and the unreality of disease. Does not the truth always destroy a lie? The writer could take the critic to see many cases which have been healed in Nottingham,—men and women who can bear reliable testimony, and who have come from honored service in the so-called orthodox churches. The critic mistakenly defines spiritual healing as "healing without the use of any material means." This may be the definition of mental healing such as he is familiar with, like the faith cures of Lourdes and revival meetings, like those of Couéism, hypnotism, and psychoterapy. But these are entirely distinct from Christian Science healing. The Christian Scientist has no use for them. Their operation is entirely that of the so-called human mind. Christian Science healing is done through the understanding of spiritual law,—the law that Jesus understood and revealed to his disciples. This law Mrs. Eddy rediscovered.

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