Questions and answers about Christian Science
from the Christian Science Sentinel
As irrepressible as the coming of a new season is the hunger to understand one another. We all want to know more about our neighbors than what simply meets the eye—especially what’s in the heart impelling their lives. In this continuing series, we share questions and answers that have come up recently—in one-to-one conversations, in discussion groups, and through correspondence with people who want to know what Christian Science is and what it’s like to be a student of Christian Science. Of course, the responses given here are not presented as final or definitive. Nor are they the only way a particular inquiry might be responded to. But they do come out of actual exchanges between Christian Scientists and their neighbors.
The universal struggle to overcome sin in one’s life often leads to profound and probing questions. The following exchange occurred during a talk on Christian Science at a Protestant theological seminary.
Q: From the standpoint of Christian Science, are sin and sickness related?
A: Yes, very definitely so—but not in the sense that a person who is sick is necessarily guilty of some personal sin. Rather, sin, sickness, and death are all understood to be alike in the sense that they’re products of our failure to live out our actual God-derived being. We don’t feel that God puts man in a destructible mortal body to suffer and die inevitably. Jesus’ healings and other proofs of triumph over material limitations showed that he didn’t accept physical suffering and destructibility as natural, normal, or God-ordained.
Q: If that’s so, then where did evil and what Christian Science calls “mortal mind” originate in the first place?
A: I don’t think I or anyone else can pretend to answer that question in a totally satisfactory way from a theoretical point of view. A lot of people have found fault with some of the answers provided by traditional Protestantism to the problem of evil. To many it seems impossible that a good and omnipotent God could sanction the existence of evil in experience, let alone a personal devil capable of opposing Himself. On this basis, Christian Scientists believe that in the deepest sense evil doesn’t have an origin or any real existence and that this ultimately must be proved in one’s experience. I would add only that from the standpoint of Christian Science man’s true being and relation to God have been shown forth in the life of Christ Jesus and are possible of realization as we follow him step by step. To not achieve our true being and relation to God because we’re so worried about why we haven’t thus far achieved it, or to hypothesize about the origin of whatever might keep us from achieving it, wouldn’t make much sense or be very fruitful.
Q: Even if sin and man’s feeling of separation from God are overcome, what about guilt for the sins one has committed? Doesn’t this still have to be removed in some way, and doesn’t it persist after the sin itself is no longer practiced?
A: Let me just say that the word sin is used in a very large sense in Christian Science, a sense to be differentiated—as you do—from specific sins that flow from sin in its more basic sense. We don’t feel that the victory over sin as a whole is to be achieved easily or quickly. But we do feel that in proportion as the victory over sin is won, in proportion as sin itself is destroyed, we do experience God’s forgiveness. There’s no more penalty or guilt to the extent that this is accomplished.
If we continue to feel guilty, it may be that we haven’t completely put off the way of living and thinking that led to our acting sinfully in the first place. On the other hand, if we really have repented and been transformed, then the need is to be more accepting of God’s grace and forgiveness. It may take deep self-examination and honesty to determine whether our remaining guilt points to the need for more repentance or not. But as we strive to have the spirit of the Magdalene, as she sought out Jesus in Simon’s house and washed his feet with her tears, we will find our way free.
The following questions about healing were raised during a talk to a high-school comparative religions class.
Q: Why should I bother to pray when I can just take medicine and be cured?
A: There’s so much more to spiritual healing than simply a physical cure. For one thing there’s a feeling of newness that comes as a result of prayer. A person who has experienced spiritual healing has a new awareness of just how close God is and how much God loves us—all of us. This feeling of newness naturally spills over into every aspect of the Christian Scientist’s life and has the effect of touching others spiritually as well. For example, it’s not at all uncommon for someone to ask a Christian Scientist what it is that helps him or her when things at school or the office seem stormy. These questions often come when we’ve just experienced healing in some form—when we’ve had a newer sense of what God is and what He does for man!
Q: I’ve heard that the human mind contributes to the healing process, that it’s our healthy attitudes that are of help. Where does God fit in if this is so?
A: We don’t feel that the human mind, in and of itself, is what brings healing. In the Bible, when St. Paul writes to the Philippians, he urges Christians to “let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” This mind can’t be mere human intelligence. We see that it has to be the Mind that is God. Even Jesus said, “I can of mine own self do nothing … because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”
For the Christian Scientist, the part the human mind plays in healing is in yielding to the good God has in store for His creation. If we’re busy trying to figure out or determine how healing should come through the human mind, that’s not the yielding that allows “this mind [to] be in [us], which was also in Christ Jesus”!
Q: If I asked you to pray for me, would you in your prayer bring me to God, or would you bring God to me?
A: Actually, if you were sick or injured, or in any kind of trouble, and asked me to pray for you, my prayer would be to have you see for yourself that God had never left you to begin with!
Comments:
1. N.Solano Says:
Why do Christian Science Knell down only on the subject” Sacrament”,why not every time you go to church? And why do we need to knell?
2. Leslie Cowan Says:
Kneeling has always been significant of humility, and perhaps when we are thinking particularly of the sacrament it is a useful reminder of our need to express humility. In this way, we follow to some extent the example of Jesus Christ, who said (John 5:19) “The Son can do nothing of himself, buth what he seeth the Father do” and who washed the disciples’ feet, telling them to follow his example. When we are dealing with other subjects in our round of Lesson-sermons, other aspects of our relationship to God come into prominence so kneeling for prayer is not so relevant; but I think it is importance that our sense of humility - our submission to God - stays with us all the time, for it is this recognition that we are subject only to the influence of an ever-present, all powerful ever-loving Goodness (which we call God)which enables us to be an agent for spiritual healing.
3. boy Says:
It is only through Christ Jesus and his saving power that people are able to do such things
4. jose Says:
man is a wretched being, we are indrenched in sin and are naturally evil as well as having the natural tendency to sin. In each of us, we all have evil desire and basically sin. How can you say that, sin is just an “illusion”.. “for all have fallen short of the glory of the father… “
5. jenny Says:
A lot of my friends have asked me similar questions, and one of the ideas I’ve shared is that Christian Scientists absolutely believe that we need a Saviour—that each individual needs (and deserves) to feel the redeeming power of Christ. Christ, the purifying love of God, is what saves us from this view of ourselves as wretched or inherently sinful.
What I love about Christian Science, though, is the way it explains how we are saved. Christian Science starts with Genesis 1—with man as made in the image of God. And since God is pure, wholly good, perfect in every aspect, sinless, how could His image (man and woman) be anything less than good and perfect and sinless?
That’s why Christian Science teaches that sin is a misconception. “Illusion” is a tough word, because it sounds like we’re ignoring sin, saying it doesn’t matter, sweeping it under the carpet. I think Christian Science very much recognizes that the belief of sin is one that has to be dealt with. Personally, I’m very aware of things I need to improve, ways in which my life could become more God-centered and pure.
But the difference is that I feel like redemption would be impossible if God had made me inherently sinful. I’m not sure how I could be saved if sin were something more than a simple misconception or a misunderstanding of the way God made me.
So how does salvation work? I feel like it’s as I let the power of Christ work in my heart, showing me God’s immeasurable love for me, reminding me that God made me in His image, assuring me that there’s only one story that’s true about me (that I am wholly pure, already perfect, spiritual with no element of materiality or sin in me) that I get that view of myself that I believe God has. This view brings me into line with who I really am, with my sinless, spiritual nature, and any wrong behaviors or unpleasant character traits naturally fall away. Sin is healed—destroyed—because it’s shown to have no place in God’s creation (including us).
In short, I think salvation in Christian Science is a willingness to conform to God’s view of us (as completely good, as spiritual and not material). And when we yield to this view, we see it is possible to follow the Bible command, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
6. Chris Blair Says:
For Jenny,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments; they are helpful as I am trying to understand CS from an evangelical Christian’s experience.Jenny, what part does the death of Jesus as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind, if any, in order to restore fellowship with God the Father?
I do not ask this with a critical attitude at all, but I love and associate and want to find common ground with those who are CS in my life.I did not understand how those in CS seemed to deny sin, but now wonder what the gospel means to CS.I agree with much of your perspective of God’s creation, but what about the fall of man in the garden and man’s need for restoration?Thanks so much for your help.In Christ’s love, Chris
7. Julio Says:
I do not mean to ask this question with a critical or a disrespectful attitude. Please, forgive my ignorance. I am honestly struggling to understand what Christian Science teaches about “matter”. I would appreciate if anyone could answer this question to me:
- If matter does not exist, if it is just an illusion, why do we have to eat and drink water everyday? Thank you very much for your help.
8. levity Says:
Hi Julio,
That’s a good question, and if you look in the Bible, you’ll see that Jesus, for example, was able to go forty days without food and water, but that after that, even he was hungry and had to deal with the temptation of believing that matter could in any way sustain or satisfy him (see Matt. 4:1-4). And even after dealing with that temptation, he still continued to eat during the course of his ministry.
So I guess my answer is that we take baby steps toward demonstrating the allness of Spirit and the nothingness of matter. (And every healing, every loving thought, every time we exchange material thinking for spiritual thinking, is a step in that direction.)
I like the way a friend of mine once put it to me when I asked a similar question to yours. She said, “We don’t have to stop eating and drinking to prove God’s power and presence, but if we were in a situation where we didn’t have food or water, we could rely on God’s power and presence to sustain us and provide for us.”
And this really is true! A few years ago I had an assignment that kept me from eating for almost 12 hours (I was out on an interview and there just wasn’t an opportunity to eat). Normally, that kind of situation seems to have the effect of making me quite ill. But instead of being afraid of how I was going to feel, I spent the whole day with my thoughts focused on gratitude to God for the way He was taking care of me. I didn’t get sick at all that day; I didn’t even feel faint from the lack of food. To me this proves that we can triumph over matter, but that we don’t have to deprive ourselves of anything good (or of anything that still seems “necessary”) in the process.
Hope this helps.
9. Anonymous Says:
Hi Levity,
Thank you very much for your reply. Of course, it is really helpful. I believe nothing is impossible to God as the Creator of the universe. However, I still have problems to understand that matter “does not exist”. Unless, “matter” is not real in a sense that I haven’t been able to see, I tend to think that matter has its own properties whether I believe it or not.
I wonder, what would happen if I take strychnine, or sulfuric acid? Or, if some of the latter is poured on my skin?
What makes me enjoy coffee in the morning? Are the coffee, the smell, and the taste just illusions?
What does ‘physical body’ means in Christian Science? What are the ‘material’ or ‘physical’ senses that Mary Baker Eddy talks about in Science and Health?
What does it mean to triumph over “matter”, if “matter” doesn’t exist?
Please, don’t take me wrong. I am seriously asking these questions as I would like to understand Christian Science better. Thanks again for your help.
God bless!
Julio
10. levity Says:
May I make a suggestion? These are terrific questions, and if you want a variety of answers, or perhaps just a more thorough answer, you should think about posting on the discussion forums on this website. (Go to the “discussions” tab on the menu across the top, the select “Q&A on Christian Science.”) You’ll have to register as a user before you can post something, but that’s easy to do.
And while I think your best answers to these questions are going to come from your continued study of Science and Health–that book has so much to offer on the question of what matter is (and isn’t) and is really the fullest and most complete statement on Christian Science–here’s what I can say in response to what you’ve asked. In my experience, matter only has the power I give it. Because all it is is a belief–a misconception about God, man, and the nature of existence.
Matter says it can be poisoned by strychnine, so would that be what you’d experience if you took it? Probably. But what if you were absolutely convinced of God’s omnipotence, the supremacy of Spirit’s laws and the nothingness of any so-called material law? What if you knew, without a shred of doubt, the nature of Life as eternal and wholly spiritual. Elisha must have known as much to have saved the men of Gilgal from being poisoned when there was “death in the pot” (see II Kings 4:38-41).
So you see, it’s really all about what you’re believing. Are you getting to know the Allness of God, or are you dwelling on the seeming “somethingness” of matter?
I like Mary Baker Eddy’s explanation where she wrote, “Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being. Matter disappears under the microscope of Spirit” (that’s from S&H p. 264). To me that says that I’m not going to get anywhere by delving into the nature of matter, its supposed properties, actions and reactions, laws, or qualities. But insofar as I understand Spirit, the more I delve into the nature of God, the more I’ll see what is true, and matter and all its attendant miseries, “laws,” limitations, etc. will no longer be the governing factors (or factors at all) in my experience.
I know I only addressed one piece of your question, but I hope this gives you a start in terms of your own thinking and praying. And I hope you’ll post in the discussion forums, too.
11. Julio Says:
Hi levity,
Thank you very much for your answers. You have been really helpful. I’ll post in the discussion forums soon.
Blessings!
Julio
12. George watley Says:
your site has been very helpful thank you
13. David Says:
My Mother was a member of the Christian Science Church, and she died of cancer at a very young age. I would like to know if she was welcomed into heaven or not. She would not use doctors or medicines at all. Only her faith and prayer.
14. levity Says:
David,
I’m sorry to learn of your mother’s passing, but I can assure you that she is absolutely with God–loved and cared for right now. May you feel the peace and love of God in your heart, assuring you of your mother’s well-being and her ongoing life in Spirit.
15. solomon Says:
Alwaws there is change , in physics or metaphysics.Forexample in physics
THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY and in metaphysics the discovery of CHRIST-SCIENCE. We have to get something from these…change ourselves for good.
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