CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
Spacial Note: My mothers side of
the family was in this cult. After
having read more on it in putting this
together, it explained a lot to me that
I did not realize.

Description
The Church of Christ, Scientist,
was founded in Boston in 1879 by
Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy
(1821-1910). Today there are
approximately 1,886 functioning
congregations in 66 countries
which follow Christian Science
(Handbook). Most of these operate
“reading rooms” open to the
public. Though the denomination does
not give membership statistics, the
US News & World Report for Nov. 6,
1990, estimated membership at less
than 170,000. If accurate, this is a
significant decline from the membership
of 268,915 reported in 1936. The number
of congregations has declined by nearly
500 in the past two decades. It is
possible that the decline has reversed
in recent years. It should also be
kept in mind that at any given time
there are many who are aggressively
studying Christian Science at the
reading rooms and through their
literature but who are not formally
members. The Christian Scientists
publish the Christian Science Sentinel,
Christian Science Journal, Christian
Science Quarterly, and the Herald of
Christian Science. These are published
in 12 languages and in Braille. The
Christian Science Monitor, a general
news publication operated by the
Christian Scientists, had a circulation
of 158,700 in 1984; and the newspaper's
one-hour radio program, Monitoradio,
is heard on 160 stations.

History
Between 1875 and 1883 Mary Baker Eddy
published Science and Health with Key
to the Scriptures. She taught that
the Bible contains many mistakes
and her “key” is necessary to
properly interpret the Bible and
unlock its mystical secrets. In
1876 she established the Christian
Scientists Association and three years
later changed its name to The Church
of Christ, Scientist, and it grew
quickly until the first quarter of the
20th century.

Chronically ill and emotionally
unstable, Mary Patterson (her second
husband's name) was powerfully
influenced by mental healer Phineas
P. Quimby (1802-1866). Quimby, a
student of hypnotist Anton Mesmer,
believed that illness and disease
was an illusion created by wrong
thinking and that it could be cured
through “correct” and positive
thoughts. Mary claimed that Quimby
cured her through his hypnotism,
and after his death in 1866 she even
claimed that she was visited by his
ghost. Though she renounced Quimby, she
derived much of her teaching from his
writings, without giving him credit,
claiming instead that her teachings
came directly from God.

Eddy taught that sickness and death
are not real. Instead of doctors and
medicine, Christian Scientists use
“Practitioners” who are trained to
help the sick person see through the
“false reality of illness.”

Mary Baker Eddy's “Scientific
Statement of Being,” which is
read every week in every Christian
Science congregation, says: “There
is no life, truth, intelligence, nor
substance in matter. All is infinite
Mind and its infinite manifestation,
for God is All-in-all. Spirit is
immortal Truth; matter is mortal
error. Spirit is the real and
eternal; matter is the unreal and
temporal. Spirit is God, and man is
His image and likeness. Therefore man
is not material; he is spiritual.”

Christian Science teaches that men are
not sinful and that they do not need
to be saved. Jesus did not actually
die nor shed His blood. There
is no Satan, sin, judgment, or
hell. According to Christian Science,
God is everything–“all-knowing,
all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise,
all-loving, and eternal; Principle;
Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love;
all substance; intelligence.” Man
is a part of God and all he needs is
to recognize it. Thus anything that
appears to be evil is only a mirage
of sorts and is not real: “All
reality is in God and His creation,
harmonious and eternal. That which He
creates is good, and He makes all that
is made. 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.”

Christian Science congregations are
directed rather autocratically from
the “mother church” in Boston. The
lesson-sermons of Sunday services
are prepared by a central committee
and issued quarterly by the Christian
Science Publishing Society, and all
congregations throughout the world
follow exactly the same program and
lessons. There is no pastor as such in
Christian Science congregations. There
are two “readers,” usually a
man and a woman; in all services on
Sundays and Thanksgiving Day, they read
alternately from the Bible and from
Science and Health. A midweek meeting,
conducted by the first reader alone,
features testimonies of healing.

Christian Science appeals to
intellectuals and mystics. It is a
gnostic-type faith, something only
the supposedly wise and initiated can
understand and appreciate. Those who
scoff its strange ideas are oftentimes
looked down upon and pitied.

Many also follow this false religion
because it promises physical healing. A
large number of its followers are
elderly. Rather than going to doctors,
Christian Scientists try to convince
themselves that there is no such
thing as sickness. Christian Science
Practitioners are called in to help
sufferers have faith in the unreality
of illness. It is true that some have
been healed of various problems, but
this does not necessarily mean they
were healed by God. Witch doctors
and New Age practitioners sometimes
practice successful healing. The
Bible warns that Satan and false
teachers perform great miracles
(Mt. 7:22-23; 24:24; 2 Th. 2:7-12;
Re. 13:11-15). It is true, also, that
many illnesses are psychological in
nature and therefore respond favorably
to mental suggestion. It is also true
that God, in His great mercy, extends
His blessings even to those who do not
obey His Word (Mt. 5:45).

Christians are told to avoid those who
teach false things and should therefore
avoid the Christian Science Church
(Ro. 16:17-18; 2 Jn. 1:10-11). 1

Doctrine
Note: I am not going to reference
the Bible in attempt to refute any of
this. If you have read the Word of God
at all and believe it, then this should
seem pretty unbelievable.

Christian Science claims to be a
Christian church and sings evangelical
hymns and reads the Bible – HOWEVER,
they read the Bible in light of
“Science and Health”. If they read
something in “Science and Health”
and it contradicts the Bible, it
automatically overrides it.
The believe there is no such thing as
sin, it is an illusion.
They believe there is no such thing as
sickness, it also is an illusion.
They believe that sick people must be
convinced that they are not sick, then
they will get well, since sickness is
an illusion and doesn't really exist.
There is no such thing as death, a
person gets old and dies because they
believe that is what is supposed to
happen. This stems from the fact that
they believe that the whole universe
is an illusion.
Their god is not the personal God of
the Bible. Everything is god and god
is good. Therefore, there is no sin,
disease, or death because all is god
and god is good. The whole universe is
falsehood - an illusion.
They claim that there is healing
from Christian Science. Their method
of healing is denying the disease
itself, e.g., “I am not sick. I
do not have cancer.” This is not
prayer but simply talking out loud to
yourself. In fact, Christian Science
says that prayer to a personal God is
a hindrance.
The believe women can become pregnant
by a supreme effort of their own minds,
a man is not needed for procreation.
Man is not made of the dust of the
earth as in Genesis 2 because matter
doesn't exist - therefore Mrs. Eddy
calls Genesis 2, “a lie”. They take
her word over the Bible.
They believe that Jesus is not God,
he was the highest human concept of the
perfect man, but not to be worshipped.
They believe that Jesus was never
tempted by the devil. Eddy says, “He
was tempted by the false beliefs in
His own mind.”
They believe that Jesus never died
because death does not exist, He just
thought He was dead.
They believe the blood of Jesus has
no atoning value and since sin is an
illusion we are not guilty.
They believe that salvation is
deliverance from delusion and entrance
into Christian Science.

Sources/Notes

Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible
& Christianity