Article November 16, 1929 Issue

In reply to the letter in to-day's issue from an archdeacon...

John G. Sumner, Committee on Publication for County Antrim, Ireland,

Belfast News-Letter

In reply to the letter in to-day's issue from an archdeacon, I should like to say that I have the utmost sympathy with what I believe to be the archdeacon's kind, religious surveillance. I have no doubt that he sincerely believes Christian Science is wrong, and that it is his duty to say so. I trust, however, that having begun the study of Christian Science he will continue with it, for he may ultimately become a convert to its teachings. History furnishes reason for such hope, notably in the case of that great Christian hero, Paul, who at first persecuted Jesus' followers.

The archdeacon's remarks regarding the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, betray his failure to grasp the gist of the passages he cites. He states that Christian Science denies the resurrection of Jesus, but the Christian Science textbook says (pp. 292, 293), "In his resurrection and ascension, Jesus showed that a mortal man is not the real essence of manhood, and that this unreal material mortality disappears in presence of the reality." There is no such statement on page 479 as the one quoted by the archdeacon, but on pages 475 and 476 it is written: "Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. The real man cannot depart from holiness, nor can God, by whom man is evolved, engender the capacity or freedom to sin. A mortal sinner is not God's man. Mortals are the counterfeits of immortals."

In the passage just quoted the thinker will perceive how Christian Science separates the tares from the wheat, discriminating between man made in the image and likeness of God and a sinning mortal. The biased or hasty critic is prone to snatch a sentence from its necessary context, inject into it a meaning which is the very opposite of the true, and then proceed to proclaim its inconsistency. Needless to say, it is not through any such travesty of its teachings that the Church of Christ, Scientist, has become the world-wide organization it is to-day, adding annually to its membership from many different nations.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

In reply to the letter in to-day's issue from an archdeacon...

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access