Article June 16, 1934 Issue

From Letters, Substantially as Published

Will you kindly allow me space to comment briefly on a...

Miss Alice E. Rose, Committee on Publication for Sussex, England,—Hastings

Observer

Will you kindly allow me space to comment briefly on a clergyman's criticism of Christian Science in your last issue? He quotes a sentence from page 35 of Mrs. Eddy's book "No and Yes," to emphasize his objection to her teaching "that sin is unreal." Unfortunately, he does not give the context, which plainly shows the premise from which she draws her conclusion. The passage reads as follows: "Jesus came announcing Truth, and saying not only 'the kingdom of God is at hand,' but 'the kingdom of God is within you.' Hence there is no sin, for God's kingdom is everywhere and supreme, and it follows that the human kingdom is nowhere, and must be unreal."

A very clear and definite distinction is made in Christian Science between the real and the unreal. All that emanates from God is real and is eternal; the unreal is described by St. John in these words: "The lust of the flesh ... is not of the Father," and it "passeth away." Christian Science does not minimize the awful consequences of sin, but it encourages the sinner to rise above sin by realizing the allness and omnipotence of God, good, and knowing that sin is no part of His creation.

A dictionary definition of "science" reads, in part, "knowledge classified and made available in work, life, or the search for truth." Through her spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy has made available to all mankind the truth about the one God, "who healeth all thy diseases," and who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil" and has made plain to tired humanity the way of salvation through Christ Jesus, the Way-shower. She writes in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 494), "Reason, rightly directed, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the experiences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Science of man's eternal harmony breaks their illusion with the unbroken reality of scientific being."

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June 16, 1934
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