Christian Science is an American religion born out of America’s third Great Awakening. It is a minor religious practice in America and beyond and its practices are widely unknown by mainstream Christians. The point of this study will be to shed light on this religious practice and come to a determination of whether Christian Science’s viewpoints are in alignment with The Word of God.
WHEN DID IT BEGIN? Christian Science began in 1879. This is during the time of the Third Great religious awakening in America. The first great awakening (1730-1740) began in Europe. These were large-scale revivals designed to convert vast numbers of people to Protestant-based religions. It involved the reshaping of the the Congregational Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Dutch Reform Church and German Reformed Church. It also strengthened the Baptist and Methodist faiths. The second Great Awakening took place from 1800-1840 and happened in America. This awakening was different from the first as it aimed to convert unchurched Americans into one of the three strongest faiths: Methodist, Baptist or Presbyterian. They would roll into towns around the United States (mostly in the Northeast), set up camp and for weeks hold large-scale revivals. If you can imagine a competing circus of faiths creating a tug-of war amongst the patrons of a small town, you get the picture. Three faiths contradicting one another, blustering, and fighting for the very souls of the people. This is the climate that a young Joseph Smith lived in. Palmyra, New York, was an area the revivalists would later term a “Burnt-out district,” meaning they spent so much time there they couldn’t find any more followers. In other words, they caught all the fish they could. But as the revivalists swooped onto the Palmyra area and fought over converts, the confusion of the competing messages forced him to go out into the woods to pray. Here, allegedly, Jospeh Smith is visited by both God and Jesus, who proclaim that all religion is corrupt, and Joseph Smith is to lead the world by the only true religion. This is the beginning of Mormonism, which comes directly from the second Great Awakening, in 1830. The third Great Awakening (1850-1900) was not concerned with conversion to the main religions of the time, but of the second coming of Christ. The nation took a turn into the Civil War. In the hard and dark reality of the time, it was believed that Christ’s return was imminent. During this time we see the rise of critical thought. Christianity was beginning to be thought of as primitive; Darwin’s The Origin of Species is published in 1859 and brings forth a new movement of biblical criticism. Even in the shadow of questioning the bible and Darwinism, the three main religions grow stronger, richer, they begin to build colleges. As the nation begins to grapple with these competing ideas, three religions spawn from this time period: 7th Day Adventism (1863), Jehovah’s Witness (1879), and Christian Science (1879). These are all key religions focusing on the end of days. 7th Day Adventism grows from three independent concepts: William Miller, leader of the Millerites, a group convinced the world is ending, an opponent named Jospeh Bates who was critical of the pope and Catholic Church, and a prophet named Ellen White. Jehovah’s Witness finds its roots in the Adventists as well as the teachings of Charles Tase Russell. Christian Science has its roots firmly in the New Thought Movement.
THE MOVEMENT
The New Thought Movement, also known as the Mind Cure Movement, was all about living an optimistic lifestyle. This drew on a number of sources:
• Gospels Transcendentalism (goodness of people and nature/ society has corrupted the purity of the individual). People at their best when self-reliant Unitarism (God is one being, Jesus inspired by God/not a deity, no original sin, no heaven/hell, belief in authority of bible but not infallibility Idealism (Metaphysical concept that only mind and mental context exist) Spiritism (Immortal spirits who inhabit bodies for multiple incarnations to attain moral and intellectual improvement. Spirits, through mediums, have beneficial or maleficent influence on the physical world.)
THE PLAYERS Phineas Quimby is a believer in the movement. He is also a faith healer and Hypnotist. In addition, Quimby is a Protestant and a scientist. He believes this: divinity dwells within each person; all people are spiritual beings. The highest spiritual principals are to love unconditionally, teach and heal, and that mental states carry forward and manifest into reality. He is the person who coins the phrase “Christian Science”. Enter Mary Baker Eddy. She is a highly-intelligent woman who, in her youth, has sudden fits of collapse and at other times is catatonic for hours. She is very sickly. In 1840 three death affect her greatly: Her husband dies of yellow fever, her mentor/brother suddenly dies and so does her mother. During this time her child is also taken away from her. Since she is husbandless, Coventry Law says a child can’t be raised by her alone. So she remarries to get her child back. But her husband does not allow the child back. For over twenty years she degrades, and becomes a patient of Phineas Quimby in 1862. Mary Baker Eddy becomes a student of Quimby. But their mentor/student relationship is cut short in 1866, when Quimby dies. One moth later Eddy takes a deadly fall, but claims divine healing (Matthew 9:1-7). She devotes the next three years to biblical study. In this study, she “discovers” Christian Science. The idea is this: Healing can be done through a greater perception of who God is. In this, she rejects drugs, hygiene and medicine. Below is a quote from Eddy: “It is plain that God does not employ drugs or hygiene, nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would have recommended and employed them in his healing. ... The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love.
BUILDING THE RELIGION
1879- Church created- 20ish followers 1881- Massachusetts Metaphysical college formed ($300 ea. for tuition) 1883 - Founds Christian Science Journal 1888 - First Reading Room opens in Boston 1894 - Eddy proclaims the Bible and Science and Health with Key to Scriptures as the pastors of the church 1898- Founds Christian Science Monitor 1898 - Founds Christian Science Sentinal 1910 Eddy began with nothing, dies a millionairess
SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO SCRIPTURE
What are the teachings of Christian Science? How do they practice it? First, we have to further explore the person. Eddy believed that Christ’s life and teachings are found in the foundation of everything she wrote. She also believed that her writings restored the spiritual and original meaning of the scriptures. In this, Jesus is the divine mediator between God and humanity. Man is the perfect cartoon but marred with sin; leaning toward Christ clears the sin. Eddy’s concept of sin is this: Error, or sin, is a mental disorder. Overcoming sin requires repentance and reformation; Christian Science is a step in healing. After death, we pass onto an existence similar to the life we had; we continue to make strides toward salvation. Christian Science aims to blend the Christian faith with an applied science of healing. In that, they have a two-tiered system of “worship”. First, there is the service itself. Second, there are Christian Science Practitioners. Her main book, Science and Health with Key to Scriptures is the go-to source for adherents to Christian Science. But she wrote many other books, all which are interspersed in their service and studied in Christian Science.
THE SERVICE
The service consists of a 1-hour session on Sunday. There are no rituals and no ceremonies. There are hymns and bible study interspersed with Eddy’s teachings. Prayer and study of Christian Science lessons is the weekly devotion.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE READING ROOMS
These are rooms, usually set up in urban areas, that serve as bookstores and points of connection with the community. Christian Reading Rooms are filled with Mary Baker Eddy’s writings.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PRACTITIONERS
These are people connected with the church, who provide specific prayer, upon request, and often appointment, for the resolution and healing of life challenges. This can include physical, emotional, etc. The prayers that Christian Science Practitioners adhere to are explained in the bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Practitioners also:
• Respond with Christian caring and spiritual reassurance; • Make recommendations, when appropriate, for the study of the Scriptures, the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, and other Christian Science writings that support a better understanding of each person’s relationship with God; • Answer questions about God, Christ Jesus, and Christian Science, when appropriate; • Visit the person asking for prayer, when possible and appropriate. • Observe the laws of the land; • Observe the confidential communication requirements in the Church Manual (Article VIII, Section 22). (This obligation does not prevent the Christian Science practitioner from making disclosures if required by law.); • Use his or her own wisdom and judgment in deciding whether to agree to help a person through prayer; • Discuss fees prior to the commencement of services and charging for services provided; and reducing fees according to the Church Manual (Article VIII, Section 22).
Yes, this prayer appointment requires payment.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PRACTITIONERS
Is the Christian Science movement on the rise? Although much of the church’s information isn’t shared by the general public, the information known reveals that the church is actually in decline. Of the known information, the Church Practitioners has steadily declined. Interestingly, the heyday of the Christian Science Movement was in the 1940s to the 1980s, which coincided with two other movements of that time period. The rival of spiritism and the advent of Scientology.
HOW CHRISTIAN SCIENCE STACKS UP AGAINST CHRISTIANITY
In order to understand any alt religion, we need to stack it up against straight biblical truth and see if it stands. We will do so with Christian Science in the following categories: how they view God, Jesus, Salvation, The Bible, Sin, Death, and Heaven/Hell.
GOD
Christian Science Christian Science teaches that “the theory of three persons in one God (that is, a personal Trinity or Triunity) suggests polytheism, rather than the one ever-present I AM…. Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus himself declared, but is the Son of God” (Science and Health, pp. 256, 361). Eddy also denied that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, since God is an impersonal “principle.” The Trinity is redefined as life, truth, and love.
Christianity There is one true and living God, who exists as three distinct, co-equal, co-eternal persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Deut. 6:4; John 1:1-3, 6:27, 20:28; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 13:13; 1 Peter 1:2).
JESUS
Christian Science Christian Science denies the deity of Christ: “Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus himself declared, but is the Son of God” (Science and Health, p. 361). It also denies His virgin birth: “A portion of God could not enter man; neither could God’s fullness be reflected by a single man, else God would be manifestly finite, lose the deific character, and become less than God…. Jesus was the offspring of Mary’s self-conscious communion with God” (Science and Health, pp. 336, 29-30
Jesus is known as the “Way-Shower”, a man who was able to attain the level each Christian Scientist aspires to, when spontaneous healing can usher from them. Jesus only attained this once he was able to understand truly who God is and follow him properly.
The atonement of Christ reconciles man to God, not God to man; for the divine Principle of Christ is God, and how can God propitiate Himself? Christ is Truth, which reaches no higher than itself. The fountain can rise no higher than its source. Eddy’s remarks that Christ is not God
Christian Science Since sin and death are false beliefs (illusions), salvation involves overcoming the false idea that they exist with the realization of man’s divine spirit and mind. “Man as God’s idea is already saved with an everlasting salvation” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 261).
Christian Scientists believe man is already perfect and the illusion of sin and suffering are mental problems due to being out of alignment with God.
THE BIBLE Christian Science Christian Science interprets the Bible in light of Eddy’s writings, particularly Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. In addition, Eddy expressed some doubts about the textual reliability of the Bible: “a mortal and material sense stole into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some extent the inspired pages” (Science and Health, p. 139). Christianity The Bible is the inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God, and is His sole written authority for all people (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21).
SIN
Christian Science Sin, along with death, disease and pain, are not real; they are merely illusions. “The only reality of sin, sickness, or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring belief…. They are not true, because they are not of God” (Science and Health, p. 472).
Christianity Sin is violation of God’s holy standards. All humans are sinners (Rom. 3:10) and are under the curse of sin – spiritual and physical death (Gen. 2:17, 3:17-19; Rom. 3:23, 6:23). Only faith in Christ and His work on our behalf frees us from sin and its consequences (John 3:16, 5:24; Eph. 2:8-9).
DEATH
Christian Science Sin, along Death is an illusion. People, like God, are immortal spirit or mind and therefore do not die.
Christianity Physical and spiritual deaths come upon all people as a consequence of their sin (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:1). People become spiritually alive when they are “born again” (John 3:3-6; Eph. 2:1-5). At physical death, our souls and spirits separate from our bodies [which go into the grave to await resurrection and final judgment] and enter an everlasting state of blessedness [for those born again] or torment [for those who die in their sins] (Luke 16:19-31; 2 Cor. 5:8).
HEAVEN/HELL
Christian Science Christian Science teaches that “the sinner makes his own hell by doing evil, and the saint his own heaven by doing right” (Science and Health, p. 266). “The advanced psychist knows that this hell is mental, not material, and that the Christian has no part in it (The first Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 160). “Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind” (Science and Health, p. 291).
Do you believe in Mary Baker Eddy? That’s the question you must ask in order to accept many of the teachings of Christian Science. It is wrapped up so tightly in her writings that you can’t dismiss the religion without dismissing her. It is not unlike Mormonism, or 7th Day Adventism, or even Jehovah’s Witness, where we are asked to accept the writings of an individual as divine, on the same plain, and even, in Mormonism’s case, greater than scripture.
Christian Science also does some destructive things with the word of God. It eliminates the deity of Christ. It eliminates the trinity. Creates a distortion of sin and reduces the importance of the bible. It doesn’t acknowledge Heaven or Hell as a destination and also creates a formulaic approach to healing. If you can believe that Mary Baker Eddy’s writings are on par with the Word of God, then perhaps you can accept the untruths she delivers. But if you cannot reconcile them, her teachings must be thrown away.