The h ey to any reliyion is what the reliyion thinhs o f Jesus Christ. W ha t does it do with His a tonement , death and resurrection ? Christian Science has its own surprisiny an sw er to these questions which concern p eop le e v e r yw h er e
T he distinction is here made between Christ and Jesus. They are not one as the Scriptures teach; they are two: the one incorporeal, the other corporeal. It would seem from this s ta tem en t that Christian Science teaches that Jesus really had a body, for Mrs. Eddy refers to Him here as being corporeal, but she qualifies this reference to corporeality, on page 211, S & H, 74th ed.: “Wearing in part a human form; that is, as it seemed to mortal view.” Jesus, therefore, did not have a body after all. He wore “ in part a human form” but this was due to mortal belief; consequently it seemed to be real to “mortal view.” Then Mrs. Eddy makes a statement which makes one wonder that any one could ever consider her “ the voice of truth to this age.” “ The Christ dwelt forever as an ideal in the bosom of the principle of the man Jesus” (S’ & H, p. 334, 74th ed.). Now an ideal and a principle may be said to be in the same cate gory as a “ bosom” and man, but to combine the two makes no sense what ever. What she is really saying is that neither Christ nor Jesus is any thing at all! Of hundreds of other denials of Jesus Christ I select only one more which I believe expresses well the Your Prayer Requests Each morning at nine the editor ial staff of King's Business maga zine gathers for prayer. Over the years God has answered the heart- cry of thousands. Should you have a request we would count it a privi lege to take it to the throne of grace. Your request will be held in the strictest confidence. Address: The Editors, King's Business, 558 So. Hope St., Los Angeles 17, Calif.
attitude of Christian Science toward Him: “ Christ is the impersonal Sav iour ” (ital. are mine) ( Miscellanies, p. 180). As Christian Science has no knowl edge of the God of the Bible, it like wise has no knowledge of the Christ of the Bible. From Genesis to the Revelation, thé Word of God abounds in evidences that our Lord Jesus Christ is a personal Saviour. Christian Science and Sin Now, my friends, I want to set before you the shocking statements of Mrs. Eddy in regard to sin. Much of her writing is confused, as illus trated by the above quotation in re gard to the “ bosom of a principle!” But when it comes to sin, she is very lucid indeed. Consistent with the basic delusion of Christian Science— that there is no reality to the universe or anything in it—she denies the reality of sin. Here it is: “ Because soul is im mortal, soul cannot sin” (S & H, p. 468, lines 6 ,7 ). The Bible replies: “ The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek. 18:4). And again: “ It is the sense of sin, and not the sinful soul, which is lost” (S & H, p. 311, line 12). God’s answer is this: “ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). The trouble with the world today is that it has lost its sense of sin. The Holy Spirit is in the world to convict of sin. H ere is what is practically Mrs. Eddy’s theme song: “Man is incapable of sin, sickness and death” (S & H, p. 459, 74th ed.). I select one verse of hundreds from the Old Testament: “ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9); one from the New: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all MORE
virgin birth of Christ in Bethlehem. Here are her statements in regard to the incarnation: “ The virgin-mother conceived this ideal of God, and gave to her ideal the name of Jesus” (S <& H, p. 334, 74th ed.). “ Jesus was the offspring of Mary’s self-conscious communion with God” (S & H, p. 335, 74th ed.). This is a denial of the per sonality of Christ, of His literal birth of a human mother, of the statement of Luke 1:35: “ The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: there fore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Mrs. Eddy called the star of Beth lehem “ the star of Boston (where the Mother Church of Christian Sci ence is located) . . . that looketh down on the long night of human beliefs, to pierce the darkness and melt into dawn” (p. 320 Miscellaneous Writ ings). Christian Science teaches that Jeshs had limitations: “ At the time when Jesus felt our infirmities, he had not conquered all the beliefs of the flesh or his sense of material life, nor had he risen to his full demonstration of spiritual power” (S & H, p. 53, lines 27-31). All cults divide Jesus and Christ: the Mormons do; the Jehovah’s W it nesses do; the Seventh-day Adventists do. Some, like the Jehovah’s Wit nesses, call Christ the re-created arch angel Michael. Mrs. Eddy follows suit: “ Jesus and the Christ continued until the Mas ter’s ascension; and then the humap, the corporeal concept, or Jesus, dis appeared, while the invisible, the spiritual idea, or the Christ, contin ued to exist in the eternal order of Divine Science” (S & H, p. 229, 74th ed.). “The invisible Christ was incor poreal [that is, without body] where as Jesus was a corporeal or bodily existence” (5 & H, p. 229, 74th ed.). “Jesus, as material manhood, was not Christ ” (5 & H, p. 84).
17
J A N U A R Y , 1 9 5 5
Made with FlippingBook HTML5