Article September 26, 1925 Issue

In the report of a sermon on the subject of "Christianity and Psychology,"...

Frank A. Updegraff, Committee on Publication for the State of Kansas,—Salina

Evening Journal

In the report of a sermon on the subject of "Christianity and Psychology," which appeared in the Evening Journal, the speaker is reported as having expressed his belief in divine healing; also, as having attempted to refute the teachings of Christian Science with Bible authority, by reading from the Bible in comparison with extracts on the same subjects from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," the Christian Science textbook, by Mary Baker Eddy. Just what extracts were read by the speaker cannot be determined from the report. However, if it be true that in the thought of the speaker psychic suggestion "is not at variance with Bible teachings," as appears to be the case from the report published in your columns, no one who is at all familiar with those subjects would be surprised at the speaker's inability to make Christian Science agree with his interpretation of Bible teachings.

The very first tenet to which every Christian Scientist subscribes, reads: "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life." Another reads as follows: "And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure" (Science and Health, p. 497). A standard authority defines psychology as "the science of the phenomena of mind, pertaining to the lower soul, or animal principle, and not of spirit;" and it further explains it as based on the mythology of Psyche, who belongs to the same galaxy of myths with Æsculapius, the god of medicine, and Eros, the offspring of Chaos, who personified sensuous love and was believed to be invested also with power to both love and hate, caress and torment. That such a claim to influence has nothing in common with that Mind "which was also in Christ Jesus," goes without saying. In fact, Jesus denounced it in unqualified terms, and exposed its nothingness by destroying its phenomena, thus delivering mortals from the seeming torments of disease and sin. Furthermore, he taught his followers how to accomplish successfully like results by utilizing the power of divine Mind, or God, over the false claims of the so-called mortal or carnal mind, which Paul declared to the Romans "is enmity against God." Jesus not only taught his followers, but also commanded them to teach others, including "all nations." And according to the sacred history of the Acts of the Apostles, the most reliable so-called history of the early Christian era, those who called themselves Christians demonstrated their teachings by healing the sick.

For upwards of three hundred years after Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed to his hearers, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also," the healing of the sick, and even the raising of the dead in answer to the prayers of those early Christians, was far from being esteemed an uncommon event. It does not seem to be recorded, however, that in those days any drug or surgeon's knife was necessary or required by statute to destroy the evidence of disease, or that disease was dignified by being classed by Christians as organic or functional.

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