What Is Christian Science?Mangasarian, M. M. (Mangasar Mugurditch)
Religion
What Is Christian Science?
Mangasarian, M. M. (Mangasar Mugurditch)
Christian Science
It is the claim of practitioners in Christian Science that they
are following the example and applying the method of the founder of
Christianity in the healing of the sick. This is one of the "telling"
arguments used by Christian Science lecturers in their appeals for
converts. But if it can be shown that the method of Jesus was in many
respects radically different from that prescribed by Mrs. Eddy, the
claim that her religion is founded upon the teachings and practice of
Jesus falls to the ground. In a pamphlet issued by the Christian Science
Publication Society and copyrighted we read as follows; "Jesus proved
for all time and for all Christendom that the origin of disease was
_mental_, and He healed it with _mental medicine_." Can that statement
be squared with the practice of Jesus as we find it described in the
Gospels? The evangelist St. John relates the cure of the man born blind
as follows: "When he [Jesus] had thus spoken, He spat on the ground and
made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with
the clay and said unto him, 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.'" Is that
the Christian Science way of healing the sick? Do Christian Scientists
use clay or spittle? Do they "anoint" the sick with salve of any kind?
Do they counsel bathing or washing for curative purposes?
Moreover, Jesus, in reply to the question of His apostles as to the
cause of the man's blindness, clearly states that the origin of this
man's disease was not in human error or mentality:--
_And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or
his parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but that
the works of God should be made manifest in him. (John ix, 2-3.)_
The meaning of this text is that the man was born blind, not as a
punishment for his or his parents' sin, nor because of mortal mind, but
that through him God may be glorified. Could that text be quoted to show
that blindness is a "mental" disease caused by unbelief or selfishness?
or could it be quoted to prove that the man was not born blind, but only
_thought_ he was blind? Where is the evidence, then, that "Jesus proved
for all time and for all Christendom that 'disease was caused by mortal
mind,' and that 'mental medicine' was the only remedy he used?"
Was Jesus in the habit of using words to mislead his hearers, of saying
things the real meaning of which would remain hidden for nearly twenty
centuries--until Mrs. Eddy could place her _key_ (from three to six
dollars a key) upon the market?
The evangelist St. Mark gives another instance of Jesus's method of
healing which is again totally different from Mrs. Eddy's:--
_And they bring unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment in his
speech, and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.
And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his
ears, and he spit and touched his tongue._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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