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To one familiar with the teachings of Christian Science,...
Daily Record-Herald
To one familiar with the teachings of Christian Science, the incidents from Mark Twain's book related under the heading "Hits and Misses" in a recent issue of your paper might seem humorous from their very incongruity and misrepresentation of the teachings of Christian Science. Unfortunately, however, there are probably many readers of your paper who are not familiar enough with the teachings and practice of Christian Science to be aware of the wide divergence between some of the incidents quoted in your articles and these teachings. There is probably no phase of the teaching of Christian Science which has been more misrepresented and misunderstood than that of the denial of the reality of evil, which, in this particular article, is the denial of pain and sensation in matter. For these reasons I would appreciate space in your paper that I may endeavor correctly to set forth to your readers the teaching of Christian Science in this regard.
Those who have ridiculed and declared absurd the teachings of Christian Science in their denial of the reality of evil, pain, and sensation in matter, have done so from the standpoint of the material senses. Now, Christian Science does not deny that evil and pain seem very real to the material senses; nor does it deny that evil is a constituent part of human experience. Christian Science, therefore, does not deny evil from the standpoint of the material senses, but from a purely spiritual standpoint. It declares that God, good, is infinite Spirit or Mind; that therefore His universe, including man, is divinely mental or spiritual, and wholly good; and that this fact is apparent to the spiritual senses, which contradict the evidence of material sense. No Christian Science practitioner would ever tell anyone who had met with a severe accident that he had no pain, as quoted in your article; but such practitioner would know the truth about God and man and the spiritual universe, and to the extent that this truth was realized by the practitioner, the individual who had experienced the accident would be freed from pain, and healed.
It should be added in fairness to Mark Twain, and for the information of your readers, that the great humorist evidently changed his views regarding Christian Science in his later years, for his biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine, relates that when he broached the subject of Christian Science to him, he found to his surprise that Mark Twain regarded Christian Science as "humanity's boon" and credited Mrs. Eddy with having "organized and made available a healing principle that for two thousand years has never been employed, except as the merest kind of guesswork."
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March 2, 1929 issue
View Issue-
"The infinite Unseen"
ISRAEL PICKENS
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Casting Down the Accuser
RUTH INGRAHAM
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Gratitude
LILY ROSE BULLOCK
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God Measurement of Love
HILDA TAYLOR
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Demonstration
MINNIE SUCKOW
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None Common or Unclean
JACOB B. GADLOW
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The Ever-Presence of God
MYRTIE V. GREGORY
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This letter is prompted by an editorial on "faith-healing"...
Conrad Bernhard, Jr., Committee on Publication for the State of Maryland,
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To one familiar with the teachings of Christian Science,...
Kellogg Patton, Committee on Publication for the State of Wisconsin,
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In a recent issue of the Independent, under the heading...
Arthur E. Blainey, Committee on Publication for the Province of Ontario, Canada,
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A short time ago your paper contained some remarks on...
Bjarne V. Böckmann, Committee on Publication for Norway,
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A writer who has previously admitted in your paper his...
Edgar McLeod, Committee on Publication for Northern California,
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In the report of the Taunton Town Mission, in drawing...
Miss Kathleen O'Connor, Committee on Publication for Somerset, England,
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My Work
RUBY E. TURNER
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Only One Remedy
Albert F. Gilmore
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The Father's Pleasure
Duncan Sinclair
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Teachableness
Violet Ker Seymer
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The Lectures
with contributions from Laura S. Proudfoot, Claude Edward Singleton
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Christian Science came to me over eighteen years ago,...
Oscar E. Drummond
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During the year 1916, after stomach specialists had given...
Marion Hill Ross
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I was supposed to have inherited anything but a rugged...
Edith Baird Robinson
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I wish to testify to the healing power of Christian Science
Mamie L. Croman with contributions from John M. Croman
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It was through attending a Christian Science Wednesday...
Ethel L. McGaughey
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While at the seaside one August my two children had a...
Alice Jerrold with contributions from Herbert H. Jerrold
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It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I give my testimony...
Alice Capel with contributions from George Capel
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My first healing in Christian Science was from a severe...
Virginia Taylor
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As I am deeply grateful for what Christian Science is...
Isabelle Harris Bastian
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God Cares for You
DAISY BEDFORD
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Signs of the Times
with contributions from Herbert Hoover, Temple, Neal