Article July 28, 1928 Issue

On two occasions recently the Question Box column...

Frank C. Ayres, Committee on Publication for the State of Indiana,—Indianapolis

Indiana Catholic and Record

On two occasions recently the Question Box column of your paper carried articles claiming to set forth views of the Roman Catholic church regarding the religious teachings of Christian Science. Brief mention was made of a letter of correction from a Christian Science Committee on Publication, but no full answer from such committee has been published. The more recent item assures that "we consciously would not do an injustice to the Christian Science religion." In fairness, therefore, to your readers I request the privilege of a brief reply, for many of the statements made were incorrect, misleading, and most unfair to the teachings of that religion and to its Discoverer and Founder, Mary Baker Eddy. I shall confine my statement to only a few of the subjects concerning which the assertions were most misleading.

(1) Creation. Christian Science emphasizes God as the creator of man. It stands squarely on the record of creation in the first chapter of Genesis: "So God created man in his own image," and, "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." It distinguishes this "God created" and "very good" man from the man seen only through the material senses. Mrs. Eddy teaches that this is the same distinction made by Jesus. She says: "When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, 'The kingdon of God is within you;' that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 476, 477).

(2) Sin. Do we see around us evidences of sinful thinking expressed in lying, stealing, murder, and the like? Yes, Christian Science acknowledges this, but it denies that sin is present as a cruel, unconquerable reality. Jesus healed all manner of sin, and told the sinner to go and sin no more. If God had made it or placed it in anyone's life for a good purpose Jesus certainly would not have undone God's work. In this respect Mrs. Eddy, seeing clearly as Jesus saw, teaches that sin is no more formidable to the right thinker than wrong figures on the blackboard.

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