Article September 7, 1912 Issue

The misconceptions of Christian Science recently given...

Ida Hodnett

Aliceville (Ala.) News

The misconceptions of Christian Science recently given out in your city by a visiting revivalist should be corrected, for no intelligent community desires to be inaccurate in its concepts of what is going on in the world, but prefers that the actual facts be presented clearly and in order. No doubt the gentleman himself will be glad to have these misconceptions cleared up. In the first place, Christian Science does not dispute the Bible. On the contrary, its very first important point or tenet declares, "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life" (Science and Health, p. 497). Mrs. Eddy has many times stated in her writings that within the Bible she found all the spiritual facts which she taught and exemplified, and that in her study of its divine teaching she found that "whenever her thoughts had wandered into the by-paths of ancient philosophies or pagan literatures, her spiritual insight had been darkened thereby, till she was God-driven back to the inspired pages" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 169). Again and again in all her writings she insists that the truths taught in the Scriptures must be spiritually discerned. She agrees with the most eminent divines of the world that there is both a literal and a spiritual meaning to Biblical passages, and with them she declares the highest to be the spiritual. Surely all believers in the Bible will agree that its spiritual meaning is needed by the human race in order that we may correctly apprehend God and man's relation to God. The literal or material rendering is not sufficient in itself to enable the human mind to lay aside the carnal opposition to God which externalizes itself in sin, disease, and death.

Regarding the critic's humorous reference to accidents and their results, it may be said positively that Christian Scientists call accidents and diseases by the names which other human beings employ. They do not neglect these deplorable conditions, but deal with them in the most effectual manner. That the Christian Science method of finding help through turning to the divine Mind is not understood and therefore ridiculed by some is regrettable, but this is not an eternal condition. God has declared, "They shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them." This happy condition will prevail when spiritual law is understood by the human mind. Spiritual law is assuredly the law of God, and no believer in the Bible will deny that such law is always powerful, always operative, and never changes. Christian Scientists are working for the attainment of accurate knowledge of God and His law, but they do not claim to have reached the heights of the desired knowledge. With the apostle Paul, they "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

"The beloved physician" Luke is referred to by our critic as "a medical doctor who wrote two books of the Bible." These two books tell of the teachings of Jesus and the result of those teachings during his earthly career and the career of his immediate disciples. The internal evidence of his writings proves that Luke had ceased to practise materia medica and was a faithful follower of the metaphysical practise taught by Christ Jesus. It is quite natural that the name of his former calling should still designate him. Have we not many "colonels" and "generals" who are no longer in the army, and many "judges" who no longer preside in court?

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