|
QUESTION: What would you say is the major
difference between Christian Science and other
denominations?
ANSWER: The major difference is that in Christian
Science one must work out from God to man. Most Christian interpretations tend
to reach out towards God from a human base, starting from the proposition that
man is a mortal and must struggle through rules and forms of prayer to reach
God.
Christian Science sets out to teach the nature of God, so that we
can work consciously from what God is. With the knowledge that He is divine
Mind, and Spirit, and Soul, and Principle, and Life, and Truth, and Love, it
has put into our hands spiritual tools for a Science of Christianity, or a
science of a true humanity. So this is the main difference - it is in approach
or attitude.
QUESTION: But basically is it the
same?
ANSWER: Christian Science is based on the great teachings
of the Hebrew Old Testament, the root of Christianity, and on our Christian New
Testament, just as all Christian truth teaching is. But it emphasizes that
these teachings are scientific. We do not have to work by trial and error for
we have been shown the spiritual laws. "Jesus . . . taught his followers that
his religion had a divine Principle, which would cast out error and heal both
the sick and the sinning" (S&H 136:1).
Ever since its discovery
Christian Science has had to deal with the attitude of fellow Christians that
it is yet another sect saying, Follow me, I have the truth. In Mrs. Eddy's day
the press called it "the Boston sect." It does have a church and form of
worship for those who want it, but essentially it is the Science of
Christianity, and any science, by its nature, cannot be sectarian.
Mrs.
Eddy speaks often of the unity of Science and Christianity. "It has been said,
and truly, that Christianity must be Science, and Science must be Christianity,
else one or the other is false and useless; but neither is unimportant or
untrue, and they are alike in demonstration. This proves the one to be
identical with the other" (S&H 135:21).
It is generally agreed that
the children of Israel of the Old Testament stand in type for all humanity. In
the New Testament, as the children of Israel recognized the Christ advent, they
became known as Christians. As those of other races and faiths recognized the
Christ, they too were classified as Christians. As mankind today recognizes the
Science of Christianity, we are renamed as Christian Scientists.
These
changes of name indicate a change of mind, a change of nature and attitude,
they are not superficial labels. In one of her early writings called No and
Yes, Mrs. Eddy stated: "Science is not the shibboleth of a sect-Divinely
defined, Science is the atmosphere of God; humanly construed, and according to
Webster, it is 'knowledge, duly arranged and referred to general truths and
principles on which it is founded, and from which it is derived.' I employ this
awe-filled word in both a divine and human sense; but I insist that Christian
Science is demonstrably as true, relative to the unseen verities of being, as
any proof that can be given of the completeness of Science"
(9:22).
QUESTION: Is there any clash with any Christian
denomination?
ANSWER: No, I'm sure there is no clash. It is
usually in the area of words — of man-made doctrines and creeds —
that people tend to think that there are differences that lead to clashes.
Interestingly, in the hundred years since Christian Science was discovered,
many Christian churches have revived the practice of healing in different ways,
whereas a hundred years ago it was a neglected area.
« Previous Page |
Next Page »
|
