Article October 20, 1934 Issue

The Cross

ARTHUR DAVIS BAKER

Many orthodox Christians of today find that the terminology of their religion fails to convey to them a definite and practical meaning. A clear understanding of such terms is as requisite to practical Christianity as is a similar knowledge in applied chemistry or in business.

To the early disciples the Christian religion was so real and practical that it dominated all things in their lives, and was so effective that through it the sick were healed and the dead were raised; and the whole world was destined to be impregnated and benefited by its teachings and practice. To them the terms "God," "baptism," "cross" represented vital teachings, clear, definite, and practical. Unhappily many religious terms, designed to express potent spiritual teachings, later became blurred and vague in the thoughts of men. They became merely doctrinal terms associated with various religious creeds or observances, apparently having little connection with everyday living. One of the inestimable benefits of Christian Science has been the spiritual interpretation in this age of the original and practical meaning of these terms. Beginning on page 579 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy is a chapter entitled "Glossary," which is of great value in its elucidation of many Scriptural terms.

From the beginning of Christianity the cross has been its central emblem. Yet this word, designed to convey a vital message, has been perverted, buried under material symbolism, its true meaning practically reversed. For centuries it has symbolized agony and death, and in its application to human life conveyed the belief that Christian endeavor was in the main a sad surrender of the joys of living. Thus it has conveyed the view of Jesus only as "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." That this view has some foundation in the perverted sense of the "fleshly" man there is no doubt, because the mission of Christ Jesus was the elimination of this erroneous, fleshly concept of man; and since the false sense does not wish to be eliminated, the way of the cross appears to it sad and painful.

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