Article May 23, 1925 Issue

In your issue of recent date a clergyman characterizes...

W. Truman Green, Committee on Publication for the State of Florida,—Tampa

Morning Tribune

In your issue of recent date a clergyman characterizes the textbook of Christian Science as the "product of a poor human mind that really leaves out the atonement and the terrible fact of sin."

Because Christian Science heals both sickness and sin by spiritual means only, just as Christ Jesus himself did and demanded that his followers should do, some of the so-called orthodox clergy misrepresent and denounce it. The gentleman's assertion that Christian Science really leaves out the atonement has absolutely no basis in fact. There is a whole chapter in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, devoted to an elucidation and explication of the atonement and the eucharist. If there is any one thing for which the ministry should be grateful to Christian Science more than another, it is that it has shown them a way out of their theological dilemma concerning the atonement. The purpose of the atonement was not to reconcile God to man, as so-called orthodoxy generally teaches. Its efficacy was in reconciling man to God, by giving him a true sense of God as a tender, compassionate Father, who loves His children. Christ Jesus' crucifixion proved Love's mastery over hate; it certainly was not to prove that God required human blood, the murder of His beloved Son, in order to placate Him and thereby gain His mercy. Mrs. Eddy's definition of atonement is so clear, concise, and understandable, that the New Standard Dictionary has given her definition as it appears on page 18 of the Christian Science textbook: "Atonement is the exemplification of man's unity with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life, and Love."

Christian Science, instead of leaving out "the terrible fact of sin," as asserted by the critic, shows that sin is solely the product of the human mind. Sin has been in the world since the history of mankind began, not because it is real or God-created, but solely because of mankind's wrong thinking and doing. The human, or "carnal mind," as Paul terms it, is the source of sin in all its varied manifestations. Sin is overcome as one attains the Mind of Christ. Paul admonishes us to let the Mind of Christ be in us that we, too, may be freed from sin by the transforming or renewing of our minds. The Mind of Christ is full of tenderness, compassion, forbearance, and forgiveness.

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