Article May 14, 1927 Issue

It was with sincere appreciation that I read the high...

J. Latimer Davis, Committee on Publication for the State of Iowa,

Centerville Daily Iowegian & Citizen

It was with sincere appreciation that I read the high tribute given The Christian Science Monitor by a minister in a recent issue of your publication; but with regret, equally sincere, I observed his remarks concerning Christian Science which indicated misconception of it and may have conveyed to your readers a wrong impression of its teachings. The following is therefore respectfully submitted to correct misapprehension on the subject. When in reference to The Christian Science Monitor he said, "I cannot but recognize such a contribution to the life of America as this paper is making," the minister voiced the views of many religionists and journalists concerning the international daily newspaper published by the Christian Science organization. The paper he so generously commended was established by Mrs. Eddy, who also founded the Christian Science church; and it is one of the natural and legitimate fruits of Christian Science. It portrays many phases of Christian Science teaching as applied to world-wide activities. Because of this it is difficult to understand your contributor's further comment, "My only quarrel is with the underlying ... negation which supports the whole structure of Christian Science itself," and we recall the Master's significant statement that "of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes."

In another part of his article your contributor said, "Not in the negation of sin and pain, but in a conquest of them lies the true way of safety;" and this, although evidently unknown to the minister, is strictly in agreement with Christian Science teaching, which indeed considers sin and pain as "negation," but does this only in the same sense that an error is so considered by the mathematician who seeks to correct mistakes in his computations. When seeing the error for what it is (simply an error) without any right claim to recognition as truth, the student of mathematics, and likewise of Christian Science, has made great progress in reaching the correct solution of his problem. Christian Science does not deny that sin and pain, as well as all other discords, claim to be very real and powerful in human experience, but it declares all such inharmonious conditions to be apart from, and the direct opposite of, God's creation. The creator's works being real and substantial, it is obvious that their opposite is unreal and insubstantial. Webster convincingly states the Christian Science viewpoint when he defines the verb "to negative" by the unmistakable words, "to prove unreal or untrue."

Furthermore, Mrs. Eddy plainly states the necessity of overcoming and destroying sin and pain quite as emphatically as did the minister, and her own words best state how this is accomplished. On page 231 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she says: "Unless an ill is rightly met and fairly overcome by Truth, the ill is never conquered. If God destroys not sin, sickness, and death, they are not destroyed in the mind of mortals, but seem to this so-called mind to be immortal. ... God is not the author of mortal discords. Therefore we accept the conclusion that discords have only a fabulous existence, are mortal beliefs which divine Truth and Love destroy."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

It was with sincere appreciation that I read the high...

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access