Christian Science, a contradiction in terms...Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus, Massachusetts
When I was about to fly from Germany to Saugus to be interviewed by the Pulpit Committee, my supervisory Chaplain from V Corps HQ in Heidelberg told me to be sure to see the Christian Science headquarters in Boston, designed by famed architect I.M. Pei. My supervisor was Christian Science, and we had discussed the beliefs of this unique group. Although this is a relatively small church, it is prominent in New England, and I felt it appropriate to include in this series on World Religions. Some of you may have driven by Mrs Eddy’s home in Lynn, or you’ve visited the “mapparium” at the Boston Christian Science complex, or have read the Christian Science Monitor.
Mary Baker Eddy founded Christian Science (aka Church of Christ, Scientist). She was raised Congregational, and was stricken with illness throughout her early life. In 1866, in an age when medical science was unsophisticated and unreliable, she sought out alternative medical advice for a painful spinal inflammation. She contacted a Phineas Parkhurst Quimby who taught that people can heal themselves through mental thoughts alone. Mrs. Eddy became convinced that healing is the result of believing that there is no such thing as sickness, and claimed to be healed.
She wrote down her perspectives on self-healing, “borrowing” from Quimby’s writings, resulting in her book Science and Health with a Key to the Scriptures, a book she claimed had authority equal to the Bible. At the “Mother Church” in Boston there are 2 identical pulpits on the platform. On one rests a Bible, and on the other a copy of Mary Eddy’s book. On the walls on either side of the platform are passages cut in granite, one from the Bible, the other from Science & Health. Mrs. Eddy’s book completely reinterprets the Bible. Followers of Mrs. Eddy do not believe in going to medical doctors or taking medication; they instead have Christian Science “practitioners” come and pray (if sickness is an illusion, why have “practitioners” attempt to heal people?). According to Christian Science teachings, people “think” they are ill, and they need to see that illness is an illusion; they try to combat the “non-reality” of illness. They believe that since God is love, sin and sickness are errors of interpreting the Divine Mind and have no true reality.
Mrs. Eddy began a College of Metaphysics in Boston, which developed into an organized religion. Metaphysics is the study of the fundamental nature of existence. Metaphysics ponders reality outside of human sense perception, that which cannot be reached through objective studies of material reality. Christian Science teaches that what we regard as reality is an interpretation of Divine Mind; in other words, we exist only in the mind of God, Who is regarded as an impersonal, universal Principle.
According to an email from my former supervisory Chaplain, “The term ‘science’ as we use it refers to Mind, as a synonym for the nature of God. We look to Spirit as the only reality and see matter as Spirit’s opposite, untrue and therefore unreal. Spirit is represented in idea, not matter. We don’t believe spirit and matter can mingle. The human mind is a false belief of mind in matter. We would not find it wise to rely on anything material for healing.” Mrs. Eddy wrote that, “disease is a delusion of (the) mortal mind…an error which nothing but Truth or Mind can heal…sickness is part of the error that Truth casts out.”
We need to understand what sets Christian Science apart from Biblical Christianity. Mrs. Eddy taught that God was an impersonal “Divine Principle”. As for Jesus, she denied His deity, His death on the cross as a sacrifice for sin, and the resurrection. Jesus is seen in Christian Science as simply a “Way-Shower” but not God-in-flesh. Jesus was “a representation of the Christ consciousness that is the true and higher self of every person.” Christian Sciences teaches that Jesus did not die, because death is an illusion. They also deny the existence of sin and evil. Christian Science has more in common with the so-called “new age movement” than Christianity. It sounds Christian because it quotes the Bible and uses Christian terms, but redefines them. Like Grape Nuts, which has neither grapes nor nuts, Christian Science is neither Christian nor scientific.
Key to Mrs. Eddy’s thinking was that the physical world does not actually exist. She claimed “there is no substance in matter but all is infinite Mind.” In a way, the worldview of Christian Science is much like the movie The Matrix, in which what appears to be real is not. Christian Science claims only God exists; everything else is an illusion. When I returned to Germany, I told the V Corps Chaplain that I had seen the Christian Science complex in Boston. I wanted to add (but did not), “Too bad it doesn’t really exist.”
Humanly speaking, some may find the teachings of Christian Science appealing—no sin, no death, no judgment day, no hell. Because Mrs. Eddy denied the reality of evil, she writes, “If prayer nourishes the belief that sin is canceled, and that man is made better by merely praying, prayer is an evil.” According to Christian Science, the sinful nature does not exist. Even Heaven and Hell are not literal, specific places, but states of thought; they are unreal illusions. But the sober reality remains that we live in a real world made by God, and we will all one day stand before Him. The Bible clearly states that God the Son died to save us from sin and hell. Mrs. Eddy is a false prophet and the founder of what most Christians regard as a cult--which can be defined as any unique offshoot of historical Christianity that is set apart from mainstream Christian belief. Cults often are centered on a dynamic founder, have writings they regard as inspired, and see themselves as the only group following the truth. They may sound legitimate because they share with us a common religious vocabulary, but it’s important that we ask them what they mean by their terminology.
Christian Science is in decline today. It once had 11,000 churches in the US, but now has 2,000 worldwide. It has suffered an image problem from high-profile lawsuits charging Christian Science parents with “child endangerment”, whose children died of illnesses considered treatable by conventional medicine. Financial scandals have also rocked the church and caused internal upheaval. Former members have written about why they left and many current followers have found it necessary to seek medical assistance. According to one source I read, even Mrs. Eddy sought medical care when she neared the end of her life.
When I recently visited the Mark Twain house in Hartford, Connecticut, I was surprised to find in the bookstore an entire book by Twain on Christian Science. Members of his family sought help from Christian Science practitioners, and were not healed, in spite of their sincere wishes. In his characteristically satirical prose Twain critiques Mrs. Eddy’s desire for power, money and fame. He writes of seeing a Christian Science practitioner about a broken bone; she was about to read to him from Science & Health, “but she had forgotten to bring her glasses.” After the consultation Twain says, “I gave her an imaginary check and now she is suing me for substantial dollars. It looks inconsistent.” After his experience with Christian Science, it’s no wonder that Twain was skeptical of religion in general.
Sickness is real, and so is death. When we’re sick, we pray for healing; we don’t deny our illness. Divine Healing is taught in Scripture. God is the Great Physician. Sometimes God heals people miraculously to the amazement of medical doctors, and sometimes He works through doctors. A surgeon from Walter Reed Army Medical Center told me, “I only treat illness; God does the healing.” Our world is not an illusion; Genesis 2:7 clearly states that “God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”
