Valid Objections to So-called Christian Science/Chapter 1
During the history of the Church in past time, and even in our own day, various attempts have been made, by those who have set up their own theories as gods to worship, to acquire a certain legitimacy or respectability by filching the Christian name to cover something that was entirely un-christian, or anti-christian. To-day we are being confronted with a movement of a like kind, which has been making itself felt with more or less persistency—known by the name of Christian Science.
It is sad to ponder that so many weak minds, and not a few strong ones, have been tainted with the flavor of this Christian Science delusion, under the supposition that it is Christian. It is woful to behold the havoc this dangerous, and now menacing, deception has already accomplished; for it is one of the severest threats that have appeared against the stability of our modern civilization; and, if not overcome, its power for evil is incalculable.
As to what Christian Science really is, it is difficult to give a definition. In the book of Mrs. Eddy, the chief apostle and founder of the cult, it is not easy to get a clear and comprehensive idea, on account of the great obscurity of the language and the generally unsatisfactory arrangement of all the material.
However, in a more or less definite way, we learn that it is a philosophy holding entirely to a subjective theory of the universe; that it is a religion, whose creeds exalt the importance and all-sufficiency of self, making the subjective Ego the centre of all phenomena, equal with and not to be differentiated from God, yet claiming to be founded in the spirit and true doctrine of Jesus Christ; and that it is also a society of professional healers, who rely solely on the force of human psychic power, subjectively exerted and untranslated into bodily or mechanical action.
The following quotations, selected from many of a like character, will illustrate the above statement:
I. "Matter and its claims to sin, sickness, and death, are contrary to God, and cannot emanate from God." "There is no material Truth." "Spirit—the synonym of Mind, Soul, or God—is substance; that is, the only real substance." "Knowledge gained from matter, and through the material senses, is only an illusion of mortal mind . . . and symbolizes all that is evil and perishable." "Nothing we can say or believe regarding matter is true, except that matter is unreal, . . ." "All that we term sin, sickness, and death is comprised in a belief in matter." "Error alone presupposes man to be both mind and matter." "The five physical senses are the avenues and instruments of human error, which correspond with it."
II. "The Science of Being reveals man as perfect, even as the Father is perfect . . ." "A decided error is the belief that pain and pleasure, life and death, holiness and unholiness, mingle in man . . ." "So long as we believe that soul can sin, or that immortal soul is in mortal body, we can never understand the Science of Being." "The Divine Ego, or individuality, is all-inclusive Being." "According to Christian Science, man is as perfect as the Mind which forms him." "The term souls, or spirits, is as improper as the term gods. Soul, or Spirit, signifies Deity, and nothing else. There is no finite soul or spirit."
III. "It is not Scientific to examine the body, in order to ascertain if we are in health . . . ; because this is to infringe upon God's government." "The remote cause of all disease is mental." "Disease is less than mind, and Mind can control it." "Realize that the evidence of your senses is not to be accepted in the case of sickness, any more than in the case of sin." "'Agree to disagree' with approaching symptoms of chronic or acute disease, whether cancer, consumption, or small-pox." "You command the situation, if you understand that mortal existence is a state of self deception, and not Truth of Being." "The only effect produced by medicine is dependent on mental action."