Scientology and saving the world

[W359]

This definitely needs to be discussed. Firstly, every time I talk to someone about this church, they right off the bat think I am a Scientologist. This linking of us to that cult is not acceptable, and I feel the Church ought to be making it more public that we have no ties.

Secondly, Mrs. Eddy constantly claims that Christian Science will someday because the universal religion. How shall this happen, when the Church seems to make no advertising efforts, but I see billboards and hear radio and TV broadcasts of, say, the local Baptist church? We need to advertise.

And, incidentally, does our centralistic-seeming theory preclude the possibility of "aliens" from other worlds? I always believed that in this huge universe, no one can possibly say that we are completely alone. But does Christian Science say that we, Earth, are God's central and only creation?

-W359

[adyer]

You've mentioned several things that can be resolved only through dedicated study of Christian Science. It really does help if you treat Science and Health as a textbook that explains a Science which answers these questions...because it is.
Firstly, every time I talk to someone about this church, they right off the bat think I am a Scientologist. This linking of us to that cult is not acceptable, and I feel the Church ought to be making it more public that we have no ties.There may be something in that. I know of one lecturer who focused on this to make sure there was no misunderstanding.

Secondly, Mrs. Eddy constantly claims that Christian Science will someday [become] the universal religion. How shall this happen, when the Church seems to make no advertising efforts, but I see billboards and hear radio and TV broadcasts of, say, the local Baptist church? We need to advertise.She does not make this claim. She one time predicted that all Christian churches (mainly in the United States) would approximate the understanding of Christian Science if Christian Scientists remained faithful in their study and demonstration. But there was never a master plan to convert everyone to Christian Science as a denomination.

Mrs. Eddy speaks of the universality of Science, and of a correct understanding of God as the nature of true religion. But there is no focus on any sort of universal institution.

But you make a really great point that we as Christian Scientists need to bring the gospel to others in how Truth is a practical, healing power in the life of everyone; that there is no superstitious doctrine to hold over anyone's head; that it is the natural ability of each of us to be conscious of Truth. Advertising will promote only an institution; it requires the healing effect of "walking as children of light" to truly bring Christian Science to the world.

And, incidentally, does our centralistic-seeming theory preclude the possibility of "aliens" from other worlds? I always believed that in this huge universe, no one can possibly say that we are completely alone. But does Christian Science say that we, Earth, are God's central and only creation?Christian Science does not teach a material creation. It teaches the supremacy of Spirit and Spirit's incorporeal ideas.

I think you would profit a great deal from using the Bible lessons in the CS Quarterly as a daily study habit to help you gain a proper understanding of Christian Science.

[W359]

My apologies. I guess I'm wrong about the eventual-universality of CS. But on aliens, I'm not talking about a material creation. I mean, spiritual beings have no spiritual difference, but isn't it possibly true of the material world that, in falsity, we "evolved" on different worlds? I'd hate to think Earth was the only populated planet.

And on the advertising thing. I mean that only to let people know we exist. That would at least draw people in and make Christian Science more widely known, as it should be.

-W359

[adyer]

...on the advertising thing. I mean that only to let people know we exist. That would at least draw people in and make Christian Science more widely known, as it should be.For years I have heard various people say that the church doesn't advertise enough. There is some value to it, but I always go back to how I found it. I knew nothing about it but was seeking for answers to questions that orthodox Christian doctrine could not answer. A college friend introduced me to CS and that's where it all started.

Word of mouth has always been the biggest driver...far more than any commercial, institutional advertising could ever hope to achieve. Marketing is basically 99% wasted money and effort.

[NancyJ]

I saw on a website that CS Churches, nurse practitioners, membership, etc...has dropped substantially over the years.
I was wondering how true that might be. The decline in numbers is alarming. It isn't always about quantity though. I'd rather have fewer people who are devoted to God then multitudes that don't really give a darn.

Someone puts a Sentinel every week at the gym, and I read it while on the treadmill, etc...I've always thought how generous this person is by doing so.
I can recall times when the articles uplifted my spirit. I had gone to the gym not wanting to exercise, etc...and left physically, emotionally, and spiritually refreshed.

[newunfoldment]

We as Christian Scientists are here to correct any misconceptions about what we represent, in a gentle manner. Right where the mix-up appears, right there it can be cleared up and corrected.

[makhwawa]

W359 Thank you for expressing your interest in finding better ways to share the blessings we have. As God speaks to each of us individually you will find your right way of doing this and others will be lead to theirs. Yours might be advertising or as someone said above, dropping off a Sentinel here and there.

I have found a true appreciation of the utility of spiritual understanding in every day of our human experience is so helpful. Then its about joy and gratitude, not fear or a sense of urgency.

I never thought about sharing CS with aliens (it is great to be thinking about the infinite nature of Life), but there was a good article about communicating with aliens in the CS Monitor yesterday.

[MikeDavis]

My apologies. I guess I'm wrong about the eventual-universality of CS.

Mrs. Eddy writes on page 266 of The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany:

"It is undoubtedly true that Christian Science is destined to become the one and the only religion and therapeutics on this planet."

[adyer]

"It is undoubtedly true that Christian Science is destined to become the one and the only religion and therapeutics on this planet."
I think it important to keep this statement in its context. It comes from what appears to be a letter to the editor about an article mentioning a decrease in seminary students and increasing vacancies in pulpits. Mrs. Eddy calls this "signs of the times" and implies (to my view) a forecast that they will continue.

The important point of her three short paragraphs is that these things signal the spiritualization of religion and medicine, the ultimate of which will show that what Christian Science teaches will be the ultimate of religion and medicine in the world.

This is not a prediction of the Christian Science church as the one and only religious institution and church but of divine Science as the ultimate of religion in its most spiritual manifestation. We need to be careful not to confuse this with a prediction or plan for denominational enlargment, or to mislead others into believing this.

Here is the entire text:

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE TIMES

Your article on the decrease of students in the semi-
naries and the consequent vacancies occurring in the
pulpits, points unmistakably to the "signs of the times"
of which Jesus spoke. This flux and flow in one direc-
tion, so generally apparent, tends in one ultimate--the
final spiritualization of all things, of all codes, modes,
hypotheses, of man and the universe. How can it be
otherwise, since God is Spirit and the origin of all that
really is, and since this great fact is to be verified by the
spiritualization of all?
Since 1877, these special "signs of the times" have in-
creased year by year. My book, "Science and Health
with Key to the Scriptures," was published in 1875.
Note, if you please, that many points in theology and
materia medica, at that date undisturbed, are now agitated,
modified, and disappearing, and the more spiritual modes
and significations are adopted.
It is undoubtedly true that Christian Science is destined
to become the one and the only religion and therapeutics
on this planet. And why not, since Christianity is fully
demonstrated to be divine Science? Nothing can be cor-
rect and continue forever which is not divinely scientific,
for Science is the law of the Mind that is God, who is
the originator of all that really is. The Scripture reads:
"All things were made by Him; and without Him was
not any thing made that was made." Here let us re-
member that God is not the Alpha and Omega of man
and the universe; He is supreme, infinite, the great for-
ever, the eternal Mind that hath no beginning and no
end, no Alpha and no Omega.

[Do Go Be Man]

I'm curious about the website that mentioned "CS Churches, nurse practitioners, membership, etc...has dropped substantially over the years." What sort of site was it?