Christian Science

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 7062, 23 January 1933, Page 10

Christian Science

LECTURE IN THE OPERA HOUSE

At the Opera House yesterday afternoon, under the auspices of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Palmerston North, Mr. Ralpdi B. Scholfield, C.S., of London, delivered an interesting lecturo entitled “Christian Science: The Science which Discloses the Standard of Perfection.” Mr. R. H. Pavitt, of Palmerston North, welcomed the speaker. Christian Science, he said, presented to the world the right concept of God, man and the universe; that is, it was the truth about God, and man in His imago and likeness. “The efficacy of Christian Science to heal was proved to mo several years ago in the healing of a member of my family who was suitering from kidney diseaso and various other physical ailments. All material aid having failed this one turned unreservedly to Christian Science for help. Through reading ‘ Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures' by Mary Baker Eddy and also her other writings this one was completely restored to health and wo learned of the God of Love, who, m the words of the Psalmist, ‘ Healeth all thy diseases and forgiveth all thine iniquities.’ ” It was recognised in John 8 that Jesus had said: “Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free,” and it was this truth which He spoke, -which, to-day was healing and blessing mankind. Christian Scienco therefore was available to all; we did not need to hesitate to put its healing power to the test. Christian Scientists accepted Christ Jesus as the Way-shower and He proved beyond any doubt the ever present potency of tms practical Truth. Their revered leader, Mrs. Eddy, had brought comfort to many in a hymn she had written. In conclusion, ho said it was his privilege to introduce Mr. Ralph B. bcholficld, C.S., of London, England, member of the Board of Lectureship of the Mother Church, The First Church of Christ,' Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts. “In ‘Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures' Mrs. Eddy writes: ‘The standard of perfection was originally God and man. Has God taken down His own standard, and has man fallen'.” This quotation contains not only a statement of great importance but also two questions of deep interest to mankind,” said the speaker. “And so when we find much that is imperfect and incomplete in our experience, the question naturally arises, What is the reason of it all. or, as Mrs. Eddy asks in the above question ‘Has God taken down His own standard 1 !’ “In order to understand this clearly I would ask you to take the Christian Science definition of God as your standard for reasoning on this point. Christian Science defines God as ‘infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.’ Are any of these synonymous terms for God changeable? Can infinite Life or Mind change its nature or its standard and die? No! These great infinite qualities may appear to be excluded from our experience, but they themselves can never change or produce their opposites. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.’ And so Christian Science maintains that God has not taken down His own standard of perfection, because He cannot do so, and because with Him is ‘no variableness, neither shadow of turning. This brings us to a second question, that is vitally important, Has man fallen? To some pcoplo it m- 7 seem absurd to raise such a question, since it is so obvious to the. five physical senses that mortal man is anything but perfect. Nevertheless, while we may have much material evidence to support the belief that men are far from perfect, yet wc do not find any concrete evidence as to God’s man actually having fallen from a state of perfection to one of imperfection. Christian Science maintains that perfect man never can fall from perfection, for the omnipotence of God and the law of Life, or God, sustain him. Two Opposite Records of Creation.

“In the treatment of sin it may help us to remember that sin implies not only erroneous action but also erroneous belief. Tho doctrine of the fall of man into sin is an erroneous belief, and arises largely from the allegory >n tne second chapter of Genesis. It is wise to remind ourselves that this story is an allegory aiul not history, and that there is a previous account of creation in the first chapter.

“If you will compare these two accounts side by side, you will seo mat behind the first account is the idea of perfection and completeness, and that behind tho second account is the belief of mutability and evil, even the mixture of good and evil. There is never any hint that the man of God s creating in the first chapter has fallen. He is perfect and complete, in the imago and likeness of God, and logically he must remain so forever. The man in the second chapter did not originate in perfection, and therefore did not fall from perfection. The allegory says of Mm, ’Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.’

“Accompanying the belief that man lias fallen into sin in the belief that man is made up of matter, and that he .is a mixture of brain, blood, bones, etc. Christian Science is challenging this belief and is maintaining that man as God made him is eternally spiritual, pure, and intelligent, and never subject to material limitation and decay. The Psalmist said, ‘Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels. . . Thou hast, put all things under his feet.’ The revised version of this passage is even more clear, for it reads, ‘Thou hast made him a little lower than God.’ “Tho belief that creation, including man. is material is tie great enemy,

tho great lie, tho subtlo and harmful basis of all sin. It claims to make man’s great God-given qualities if intelligence, reason, wisdom, love, good, and hope subject to decay and matter. “For instance, it says that sight and hearing are dependent upon physical structure and organs. And yet, since matter is being shown • by physical scientists themselves to be wholly unsubstantial, it cannot be the decay or destruction of matter that causes failure of hearing and sight. "This belief in failure is latent in the carnal mind, which never was perfect, and so has not fallen from perfection. This carnal mind is the enemy that sows the tares. Man as God made him has never fallen into this dreadful condition. To see as God sees, and to hear as God hears, means to know as God knows, and this spiritual understanding heals blindness and deafness. "Tho process of regeneration is not a process of making a fallen man into an unfallcn. man, but rather of eliminating the tares, or lies, and revealing, or bringing to light, man as God mado him. Diagnoiss of Disease. "Now conies the question as to how we are to separate the tares from tho wheat when applied to the treatment of disease. Accompanying the doctrine of the fall of man into sin is the doctrine that man has also fallen from perfection into a state of mortality and disease. Here Christian Science emphasises the point that man as God made him is upheld by Life, and must remain spiritual and perfect, immune from decay and disease. "Therefore when we encounter disease in our experience Christian Science says, in the words of the parable, ‘An enemy hath done this.’ This classifies disease at the very outset as based on that which is a liar and a lie. And Christian Science maintains that the tme diagnosis of disease is not based on what mortal man thinks about disease, but upon what God knows about Life and man. "Some people think that Christian Scientists merely say that disease does not exist, and that they expect to heal it in this way. But that is not so. Mrs. biddy says that ‘ all disease is the result of education.’ "You cannot get rid of mistakes in education merely by saying that they do not exist. You correct these mistakes by substituting right education, or the truth, and then you will see that these mistakes were no more than false education and ignorance. "The preventive and the curative method of Christian Science are contained in a knowledge of perfection. Mrs. Eddy explains this in Science and Health. ‘The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea—perfect God and Perfect man—as the basi3 of thought and demonstration.’ "With ‘perfect God and perfect man’ as our ‘basis of thought and demonstration’ we can begin to practice the healing of disease. This is called treatment in Christian Science, and Christian Science treatment is prayer. "Suppose you are suffering from disease, and you wish to pray for health. Instead of asking God to bring you to a state of perfect health, try to remember what we have been considering; namely, that God made man perfect, hence man must remain so. "Understand that disease is utterly Godless, hence utterly lifeless. Whatever is utterly lifeless is utterly powerless and since disease has no life, power, or God to support it, it must be, in tho final analysis, unreal. Whence then is this disease? In the w r ords of the parable, ‘An enemy hath done this.’ And so at the outset you see you are not dealing with a sick man, but with an enemy that is saying to you, You are a sick man. "We liavo already seen that this enemy is a complete liar. Are you going to listen to that liar? Are you going to implore God to come and destroy a lie for you, when He has already given you ability to destroy it, through the spiritual understanding of His presence and power? "So instead of your prayer being a form of beseeching God to come and do something, let it bo a case of protesting the omnipotence of God, the only creator, and the perfection ox man, the child of God, and denying the false sense evidence called disease. "This may necessitate asserting the presence of perfection in the face of its apparent opposite. But in the words of James, ‘Resist tho devil (the lie), and he will flee from you.’ Believe no lies and the liar disappears. Our Leader’s Great Work. "To learn something of tho life of the Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, we must look around at what she built. As the architect of a great cathedral builds his church of stone, but uses great and grand qualities of character and intelligence to do so, so Mrs. Eddy built her church with deep and spiritual understanding, purpose, and intent. And in doing itiis she most certainly gave to tho world clear evidence of the greatness and grandeur of her character. “Her life was dovoted to the building of a church, not merely as a material edifice, but as a structure of reality, of spiritual understanding, whereby the unreal is separated from tho Teal; evil from good; the false from the true. Here is Mrs. Eddy’s definition of the word church, ‘The structure ot Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle. The Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to tho apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing fhe sick.’ "