In reply to your correspondent "A. H. O.," whose second...

Southern Press

In reply to your correspondent "A. H. O.," whose second letter appears in a recent issue, I may say that in order to understand what Christian Science teaches on the points raised in this letter it is necessary to look at them from the Christian Science point of view, whether one agrees with that point of view or not. Thus it is stated in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 468): "Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal;" and this is in line with Paul's message to the Corinthians, "The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

In the same book Mrs. Eddy has written (p. 460), "Sickness is neither imaginary nor unreal,—that is, to the frightened, false sense of the patient." Surely neither "A. H. O." nor anyone else believes that sickness is "real" in the sense of its being eternal. When Jesus healed the sick, did he destroy an illusion called sickness, or did he destroy something real or true? This is answered in his own words: "Think not that I am come to destroy, the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." And again, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." In the case of a sick infant, the sickness is more the result of false beliefs entertained by the parents and others than by the infant itself; but the healing of the infant through the knowledge of the truth, or right thinking in the light of Christian Science, could never result in "Heigh presto! no infant," as "A. H. O." states in his first letter; for the identity of man is eternal.

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January 5, 1929
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