Editorial September 6, 1947 Issue

ANSWERING SOME CRITICISMS

John Randall Dunn

In the third chapter of Peter's first epistle (verse 15) Christians are admonished, "Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you;" and certainly the student of Christian Science counts one of his happiest privileges the opportunity to share with a hungry newcomer to Truth some of the spiritual blessings which Science has brought him. The student needs also to be ready to answer in a wise way some of the unfortunate misconceptions of Christian Science still current in the popular thought.

Only recently a person passing the great Mother Church edifice in Boston was heard to remark to another, "That's the church where they tell you that you aren't sick, when you are." Now every informed student of Christian Science can instantly detect the erroneous nature of such a statement and, if given the opportunity, should heed the admonition of Mary Baker Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 452) which reads, "When error confronts you, withhold not the rebuke or the explanation which destroys error."

In the first place, a Christian Scientist knows that from the standpoint of physical sense testimony the picture of a sick, discordant, or sinful mortal seems very real, and therefore is not to be ignored, but squarely dealt with through understanding of the truth. Suppose a child in school asserts that a curved line is the shortest distance between two points. Does the teacher lightly pass over the statement, bidding the pupil forget it? The answer is obvious. Before the question is dismissed, there has been truth-telling and truth-accepting on the part of teacher and pupil.

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