Article December 4, 1926 Issue

In your recent issue mention is made of a pastor's announcement...

Albert E. Lombard, Committee on Publication for Southern California,—Glendale

Evening News

In your recent issue mention is made of a pastor's announcement that a chart had been distributed in Glendale which attacked his church, Christian Science, and others. In the chart, under the "Word of God," the compiler has listed Scriptural quotations which in their Biblical wording are a source of inspiration to Christian Scientists and all Christian people; but he has done Christian Science an injustice by classifying it under the heading of "error." An understanding of God, Christ Jesus, Holy Spirit, sin, atonement, salvation, and retribution (the subjects he discusses), when obtained from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has brought to many seekers the fruits of health, sound morals, happiness, peace, and increased mental capacity. The chart quotes the Master's words, "By their fruits ye shall know them;" and a Christian Scientist asks that his religion be judged by its fruits. Christian Science is founded upon the teachings of the Bible. The whole trend of the Bible is to show that God, the Supreme Being, is Spirit and Love, incorporeal and good; that His Son, the Christ, is the expression of God; and that man, the real spiritual man, made in the image and likeness of God, is this reflection of God, perfectly sustained and harmoniously governed by His law. This Biblical teaching is the absolute fact, the absolute truth about God and man. Christ Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Therefore, knowledge of this truth about God and man frees mankind from evil and disease. This freedom is a right to which mankind is entitled—an inalienable right which comes from God. In law, fixed inalienable rights are understood to be absolute or real, and human privileges are understood to be unreal, being dependent upon the opinions of mortals. Webster defines "real" in law as pertaining to that which is "fixed, permanent, or immovable." Then the unreal pertains to the movable, changeable, temporary. In a study of the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings it is necessary to differentiate between the absolute facts about God's man and the false or unreal conditions which mortals are striving to overcome.

Since a knowledge of the truth will make men free, it is a knowledge of so-called evil which leads them into bondage, and shackles them to sin, sickness, and death. Overlooking or excusing sin cannot benefit mankind, but the knowledge that God did not make evil, that He does not know evil, and that men need not fear evil, as stated by Mrs. Eddy in "Unity of Good" (p. 20), will help mankind to overcome sin and prove it unreal. Mrs. Eddy's writings clearly show that sin must be overcome, and that it is forgiven only as it is forsaken. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 339) she says that "the sinner would make a reality of sin,—would make that real which is unreal;" that "only those, who repent of sin and forsake the unreal, can fully understand the unreality of evil." She says also (p. 461), "To prove scientifically the error or unreality of sin, you must first see the claim of sin, and then destroy it." God did not make sin, sickness, and death. Christ Jesus came to show us how to overcome these false beliefs and to gain full salvation. He turned his followers toward the truth, never toward evil, and he gave direct commands that those who believe on him should heal the sick as he did. Just as a child makes mistakes in arithmetic and suffers the consequences, so do the followers of Christ suffer for their mistakes until they are corrected. The false knowledge must be intelligently overcome before freedom is assured. Christ Jesus was willing to suffer the utmost humiliation and the greatest sacrifice when he allowed men to crucify him on Calvary; and this shedding of the Master's blood was to show his students, among other things, that they, too, should willingly make great sacrifices in their efforts to obtain a knowledge of the truth. We must learn more of the truth and profit from the teachings of Christ Jesus. Thus we shall become more loving, more honest, and more healthy. This does not mean shutting our eyes to evil and disease, but it does mean mentally rejecting them as falsities and impositions unknown to God.

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