Science versus Superstition

Annie M. Knott

Through an entirely false concept of the teachings of Christian Science, a good many people have thought of it as a form of superstition; but when they become in any degree acquainted with the Principle which underlies all of its teachings they see that they were entirely mistaken. A dictionary definition of superstition reads as follows: "An excessive reverence for, or fear of, that which is unknown or mysterious. An ignorant or irrational worship of the Supreme Deity; excessive exactness or rigor in religious opinions or practice." So far from Christian Science being in any wise connected with superstitious belief or practice, it really is the only teaching which reveals the error of all belief that bases superstition.

Here it should be said that superstition never fails to induce fear; while Christian Science, rightly understood and practiced, never fails to destroy it. On page 83 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says: "Between Christian Science and all forms of superstition a great gulf is fixed, as impassable as that between Dives and Lazarus." Taking up the belief in superstition at this point, we have the only direct teaching of Christ Jesus relative to the condition of those who have passed through the experience called death; and his words, as found in the parable referred to by Mrs. Eddy, actually annihilate the widely prevailing belief that there can be or should be any communication between those who have passed on and those who are on this plane of experience.

In this parable which is given in the sixteenth chapter of Luke we find that the rich man who had passed on and who declared he was in torment, evidently believed that he could send a communication through Lazarus to his brothers who were in the world. It is good to find here a hint that human affection had survived death and the grave, and it was surely the dawning of spiritual consciousness which led him to pray for their salvation; but the lesson which came to him showed that through no form of superstition could this salvation come. We read that Abraham directed the man's thought to Moses and the prophets, or, as the student of Christian Science would say, to the divine Principle that had inspired their teachings. Because, however, the rich man had not understood this divine Principle, he had failed to find the needed lessons, and thought that if one from the dead could take a message to his brothers they would repent; but though his plea was rejected, the essential truth taught by Moses and the prophets, and demonstrated by Christ Jesus, remained to light the way to full salvation from sin, sickness, and death.

That the belief in superstition was very prevalent in the days of the Master and long before that time, is very evident. When Jesus came walking on the water in the night season, his disciples who were in their boat, cried out in terror at what they thought to be the approach of a spirit. They had yet to learn that their great Teacher was demonstrating for them the Science which would destroy all superstition and all fear, even the fear of death, when it was fully understood. When the truth of being, as declared in Christian Science, was given to humanity through Mrs. Eddy's teachings, it challenged fear and superstition of all kinds, whether expressed through disease or sin. It is too well known that many persons have blindly submitted to the belief that they must die at a certain time because a prediction, medical or otherwise, had been made to this effect; but in thousands of such cases deliverance came through the understanding of Truth, and with the physical healing of the erstwhile sufferer came in large measure the freedom which is the birthright of all of God's children, and which is never for a moment overshadowed by superstitious belief.

One modern phase of superstitious belief comes with its challenge even to students of Christian Science, and by this is meant the so-called endless chain letters. Indeed, it sometimes seems as if students of Christian Science were selected for the purpose of finding out just what they would do with such things. It is quite likely that the superstition back of the threat of misfortune of the direst sort which would come to those who had the courage to break the chain, would deter those who were not Christian Scientists from meeting the challenge with the courage born of a righteous conviction; but the Scientist has often had to face more fearsome foes than this, and does not hesitate as to the right course to pursue. He knows that no one inspired by divine Truth and Love could send out a threat in the name of God or of Christ Jesus; and even though he may not feel the need of protection for himself from this phase of superstition, he gladly seizes the opportunity to deliver others who may have been, as Paul says, "all their lifetime subject to bondage,"—the bondage of belief in life separate from God. In the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah we find the distinct command to "break every yoke;" and this is followed by the promise which makes nothing the threats of mortal mind: "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: ... the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward."

Annie M. Knott.

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