Article April 16, 1932 Issue

An article entitled "The Duty of Being Happy," in your...

Albert E. Lombard, Committee on Publication for Southern California,—Glendale

Time-Table

An article entitled "The Duty of Being Happy," in your issue of April 24, included Christian Science among organizations "to make people happy," but implied mistakenly that Christian Science is fundamentally the same as other systems mentioned in the article. I should like to point out a few of the many particulars in which Christian Science is unique. While various religions, including Christian Science, accept the Biblical teaching that "God is Spirit, omnipotent, ... omniscient, ... omnipresent," Christian Science stands alone in deducing from this teaching the conclusions that God, Spirit, is All-in-all, and that matter, the opposite of Spirit, is nothing. Christian Science makes a complete separation between Spirit and matter. Is not this in accord with Christ Jesus' words and works? He demanded absolute allegiance to God. He took no halfway position between Spirit and matter. He did not cater to the material senses. He repudiated matter by his affirmation, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing."

Likewise, Christian Science is unique in the deductions it draws from the Scriptural teachings that God is Spirit and that God made man in His image and likeness, for from these premises this religion concludes logically that man is spiritual, not material. The recognition that man's true selfhood is spiritual and not material was one of the important factors in the Master's success in healing physical, mental, and moral discord by spiritual means, and it is fundamental in Christian Science. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 91), "The denial of materialselfhood aids the discernment of man's spiritual and eternal individuality, and destroys the erroneous knowledge gained from matter or through what are termed the material senses."

The utilization of the teachings of Christian Science opens the channels for the streams of good that flow continually from God, Spirit, to His offspring; and health, happiness, and success come to those who use these teachings and thereby turn their thoughts from the material to the spiritual.

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