Origins and Development of Christian Science
Mary Baker Eddy's journey from childhood to founding Christian Science, influenced by encounters and personal struggles, leading to the publication of her influential work, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." The narrative unveils the origins and evolution of Christian Science, highlighting key events and relationships that shaped its development.
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The Illusions and Delusions of Christian Science By Steve Lagoon
Materials Related To Christian Science
Origins of Christian Science
Origins of Christian Science Christian Science owes it origins primarily to the efforts of one person, Mary Baker Eddy. She was born in 1821 to a Congregationalist family in New Hampshire. As a girl of eight years old, it is reported that Mary heard the voice of God calling her much as had happened to the prophet Samuel in the Bible. In 1843, she married her first husband, George Washington Glover. Unfortunately, Mr. Glover died the following year. Mary s only child, named George Glover after his father, was born a few months after the father s death.
Origins of Christian Science In 1853, Mary married a second time, this time to a dentist named Dr. Daniel Patterson. In October of 1862, Mary first met Phineas. P. Quimby of Portland, Maine who was said to be performing very remarkable cures. Many, however, allege that Quimby was the real source of many of the ideas that would later be known as Christian Science. In January of 1866 Quimby passed away. A month later, Mary had a fall and experienced a dramatic healing that led her to developing the ideas of Christian Science. While Mary was busy formulating the ideas of Christian Science, she was having problems in her private life. In 1866 they [Mary and Dr. Patterson] were separated, and in 1873, she secured a divorce.
Origins of Christian Science 1875 was the watershed year in which Mary published her most well-known work Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Things were improving in her private life as well. She was soon to meet a man who came to her for a healing, but the relationship blossomed. On New Year s day, 1877, Mary Glover and he [Asa Gilbert Eddy] were married, and were reported to have a happy marriage.
Origins of Christian Science Four years later (1879), the Church of Christ, Scientist was founded. Unfortunately for Mary Baker Eddy, in 1882, her third husband Asa Eddy died. Mary immediately charged that he had been killed by mental arsenic poisoning, an explanation that conveniently released her from any accountability in regard to her supposed healing powers.
Origins of Christian Science In 1889, the original church was dissolved, and three years later the new Mother Church was formed. In 1895 the Church Manual was published. In 1908, the well-known Christian Science Monitor was formed. Finally, on December 3, 1910 Mary Baker Eddy herself died. Christian Science, Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult, George A. Mather and Larry A. Nichols, Editors, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids MI, 1993, p. 73
Comparison of Christian Science and the Bible
Eddys Pantheism Hoekama identifies Christian Science with pantheism, All this adds up to a pantheism which is thoroughgoing and all embracing. God is All-in-All (Science, 113:16) All that can exist is God and His idea (Unity of Good, 47:5).
Does C.S. Distinguish God and Man? But what do we make of other claims that seem to indicate an aversion to pantheism such as Eddy s statements: Man is not God, and God is not man (Science, 480:19). Christian Science maintains a clear and consistent distinction between God as creator, or Father, and man and the universe as His creation (What Makes Christian Science Christian? p. 11).
Does C.S. Distinguish God and Man? We respond by noting that the Christian Science idea is that man is to God as the thoughts are to the brain. Man is an expression of the mind of God, but not something separate from God. Though man is described as a creation of God, this is likened to how a mind creates thoughts. As long as God has existed, he has created thoughts, including mankind.
Does C.S. Distinguish God and Man? Continuing our definition of man, let us remember that harmonious and immortal man has existed forever (Science, 302:14). I believe in the individual man, for I understand that man is as definite and eternal as God, and that man is coexistent with God, as being the eternally divine idea (Unity 49:1).
Eddy Rejected God of Old Testament Eddy sought to reject the God of the Bible when she stated, The Jewish tribal Jehovah was a man- projected God. Eddy, Science, 140:22-23
Eddy Rejected the doctrine of the Trinity The theory of three persons in one God (that is, a personal trinity or Tri-unity) suggests polytheism (Science, 256:9). But if God is personal, there is but one person, because there is but one God (Science 517:15).
Eddy Distorted Biblical Doctrine of Trinity According to false philosophy and scholastic theology, God is three persons in one person (No and Yes, 24:9). It is no easy matter to believe there are three persons in one person (No and Yes 15:14). He is the infinite Person, but not three persons in one person (Message for 1901 4:19).
Eddy Distorted Biblical Doctrine of Trinity Life, Truth, and Love constitute the triune Person called God . . . They represent a trinity in unity, three in one . . . God the Father-Mother; Christ the spiritual idea of sonship; divine Science or the Holy Comforter (Science 331:27). Applied to Deity, Father and Mother are synonymous terms; they signify one God. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost mean God, man, and divine Science (Message for 1900 5:9).
Eddy, Holy Spirit is Christian Science Holy Ghost. Divine Science Eddy, Science 588:6 In the words of St. John: He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever. This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science. Eddy, Science 55:27
Christian Science Distorts Biblical Jesus McDowell and Stewart summarize the Christian Science view of Jesus, Mrs. Eddy attempts to make a distinction between Jesus and the Christ as if they were two separate entities . . . Since Jesus and Christ are two different entities in Christian Science, the doctrine that Jesus Christ is God is rejected. McDowell, Josh & Stewart, Don, Handbook of Today s Religions, Here s Life Publishers, Inc, San Bernardino CA, 1983, p.127
Christian Science Distorts Biblical Jesus Thus he virtually unites with the Jew s belief in one God, and recognizes that Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus himself declared, but is the Son of God (Eddy, Science 361:9). Does not the belief that Jesus, the man of Galilee, is God, imply two Gods[?] (Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science Versus Pantheism, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston MA, 1898, 8:6).
Christian Science Docetism Distorts the Cross of Christ Just as Christian Science rejects the reality of Christ s body due to its denial of all material matter, so also it must reject the reality of Christ s death on the cross, since neither the cross nor Christ s body actually exist. His disciples believed Jesus to be dead while he was hidden in the sepulchre, whereas he was alive, demonstrating within the narrow tomb the power of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense (Eddy, Science 44:27).
Christian Science Docetism Distorts the Cross of Christ Until they saw him after his crucifixion and learned that he had not died (Eddy, Science 46:1). The fleshly Jesus seemed to die, though he did not (Mary Baker Eddy, Unity of Good, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston MA, 1887, 1919, 62:19).
Christian Science Distorts Christs Atonement The material blood of Jesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed upon the accursed tree, than when it was flowing in his veins as he went daily about his Father s business (Eddy, Science 25:6). The crudest ideals of speculative theology . . . the wrath of God, to be appeased by the sacrifice and torture of His favorite Son,-- are some of the false beliefs that have produced sin, sickness, and death (Mary Baker Eddy, The People s Idea of God, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston MA, 1886, 1914, 3:3, 7-9).
Christian Science Distorts Christs Work Christ came to destroy the belief in sin (Eddy, Science 473:6). He atoned for the terrible unreality of a supposed existence apart from God (Eddy, No and Yes 35:15). The proof that Christian Science is the way of salvation given by Christ, I consider well established (Eddy, No and Yes 28:14).
Christian Science Distorts Salvation Man as God s idea is already saved with an everlasting salvation ( Eddy, Miscellaneous 261:25). Adhere to the teachings of the Bible, Science and Health, and our Manual, and you will obey the law and gospel (Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellany, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston MA, 1913, 1941, 251:28, cited in Christian Science Journal February 1957 p. 60).
Christian Science Docetism Distorts Christs Resurrection Our Master reappeared to his students, -- to their apprehension he rose from the grave, -- on the third day of his ascending thought, and so presented to them the certain sense of eternal Life (Eddy, Science 509:3). Jesus students, not sufficiently advanced fully to understand their Master s triumph, did not perform many wonderful works, until they saw him after his crucifixion and learned that he had not died (Eddy, Science 45:31).
Distinctive Beliefs of Christian Science
Christian Science Denial of Material Reality Question. What is the scientific statement of being? Answer. There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter (Eddy, Science 468:9). What is termed matter is unknown to Spirit (Eddy, Science 469:1). There is no matter . . . If God is Spirit, and God is all, surely there can be no matter . . . According to Christian Science, the first idolatrous claim of sin is, that matter exists; the second, that matter is substance . . . Hence my conscientious position, in the denial of matter, rests on the fact that matter usurps the authority of God (Eddy, Unity, 31:1, 5, 11, 15).
Christian Science Denial of Material Reality Do you believe in matter? I believe in matter only as I believe in evil, that it is something to be denied and destroyed to human consciousness, and is unknown to the Divine (Eddy, Unity 50:3). Matter has no life, hence it has no real existence. (Eddy, Science 584:9). Christian Science repudiates the evidences of the senses and rests upon the supremacy of God. (Eddy, Christian Healing, 15:1).
Christian Science Denial of Physical Bodies Question. What is man? Answer. Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements (Eddy, Science 475:6). Hence man is not mortal nor material (Eddy, Science 476:9). Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual (Eddy, Miscellaneous 21:21).
Christian Science Denial of Evil Hence, evil is but an illusion, and it has not real basis. Evil is a false belief (Eddy, Science 480:22). Evil has no reality . . . an illusion of material sense (Eddy, Science 71:2).
Christian Science Denial of Satans Existence Devil. Evil; a lie; error (Eddy, Science 584:15).
Christian Science Denial of Error Here is where it really gets difficult to understand Christian Science beliefs. If you ask a Christian Scientist why, if there is no real material existence, no matter, no evil, no sickness, no death, then why do we think that such things do exist? The answer is that such beliefs are errors of mortal mind, false beliefs, and illusions. But the problem is that Mrs. Eddy also denied the existence of errors, mortal mind, and false beliefs!
Christian Science Denial of Error/ is of Mortal Mind Error is false, mortal belief; it is illusion . . . it has no real existence (Eddy, Science 287:21). To admit the existence of error would be to admit the truth of a lie (Eddy, Unity 22:11). Mortal mind. Nothing claiming to be something . . . error creating other errors (Eddy, Science 591:25).
Christian Science Denial of Error/ is of Mortal Mind But really there is no such thing as mortal mind (Eddy, Unity 50:12). Yet, strictly speaking, there is no mortal mind (Eddy, Unity 35:9). The seeming reality of the material universe is explained as an error of mortal mind, and yet, Mrs. Eddy also denies the reality of errors and the mortal mind! One facilitator of a Christian Science reading room, in response to this question, answered by saying, That s the big question! I would rather call it Mrs. Eddy s Achilles heel.
Christian Science Denial of Sin Question. Is there no sin? Answer. All reality is in God . . . Therefore the only reality of sin, sickness, or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring belief, until God strips off their disguise. They are not true, because they are not of God (Eddy, Science 472:23). God knows no such thing as sin (Eddy, Unity 1:3). Christ came to destroy the belief of sin (Eddy, Science 473:6).
Christian Science Denial of Illness/ Sickness/ Injuries Therefore the only reality of sin, sickness, or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to humans erring, belief . . . They are not true (Eddy, Science 472:27). Expose and denounce the claims of evil and disease in all their forms, but realize no reality in them . . . The sick are not healed merely by declaring there is no sickness, but by knowing that there is none (Eddy, Science 447:19). Realize that the evidence of the senses is not to be accepted in the case of sickness (Eddy, Science 386:1).
Christian Science Denial of Illness/ Sickness/ Injuries Deformed joints are actually a dream an illusion. They are images in mortal thought, not a spiritual reality (Benton, Susan Carol, Christian Science Sentinel, October 13, 2008 p. 24). The lecturer, teacher, or healer who is indeed a Christian Scientist, never introduces the subject of human anatomy; never depicts the muscular, vascular, or nervous operations of the human frame. He never talks about the structure of the material body. He never lays his hands on the patient, nor manipulates the parts of the body supposed to be ailing (Eddy, Rudimental 11:24).
Christian Science Denial of Death Because man is the reflection of his Maker, he is not subject to birth, growth, maturity, decay. These mortal dreams are of human origin, not divine (Eddy, Science 305:27). Life is real, and death is the illusion (Eddy, Science 428:3). It is unchristian to believe in the transition called material death, since matter has no life (Eddy, Unity 38:11).
Christian Science Authority: Bible or Mrs. Eddy? No human pen nor tongue taught me the Science contained in this book, Science and Health; and neither tongue nor pen can overthrow it (Eddy, Science 110:12). A Christian Scientist requires my work Science and Health for his textbook . . . Why? First: Because it is the voice of Truth to this age . . . Second: Because it was the first book known, containing a thorough statement of Christian Science . . . and registered the revealed Truth uncontaminated by human hypothesis (Eddy, Science 456:25).
Christian Science Authority: Bible or Mrs. Eddy? I should blush to write a Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures as I have, were it of human origin, and were I, apart from God, its author. But, as I was only a scribe echoing the harmonies of heaven in divine metaphysics, I cannot be super-modest in my estimate of the Christian Science textbook (Eddy, Miscellany 115:3). Mary Baker Eddy, the inspired author of the textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (Lee, Violette M., Christian Science Journal, February 1957 p. 69).
Christian Science Authority: Bible or Mrs. Eddy? It was not myself, but the divine power of Truth and Love, infinitely above me, which dictated Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (Eddy, Miscellany 114:23). The manifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the thirty thousand different readings in the Old Testament, and the three hundred thousand in the New, -- these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some extent the inspired pages (Eddy, Science 139:15).
