Chapter XI - Some Objections Answered
Strong position
344:1
It is objected to Christian Science that it claims God
It is objected to Christian Science that it claims God
as the only absolute Life and Soul, and man to be His
idea, – that is, His image. It should be
added that this is claimed to represent the
normal, healthful, and sinless condition of man in divine
Science, and that this claim is made because the Scrip-
tures say that God has created man in His own image
and after His likeness. Is it sacrilegious to assume that
God's likeness is not found in matter, sin, sickness, and
death?
Efficacy may be attested
344:11
Were it more fully understood that Truth heals and
Were it more fully understood that Truth heals and
that error causes disease, the opponents of a demonstrable
Science would perhaps mercifully withhold
their misrepresentations, which harm the sick;
and until the enemies of Christian Science test its efficacy
according to the rules which disclose its merits or de-
merits, it would be just to observe the Scriptural precept,
"Judge not."
The one divine method
344:19
There are various methods of treating disease, which
There are various methods of treating disease, which
are not included in the commonly accepted systems; but
there is only one which should be presented
to the whole world, and that is the Christian
Science which Jesus preached and practised and left to us
as his rich legacy.
344:25
Why should one refuse to investigate this method
Why should one refuse to investigate this method
of treating disease? Why support the popular systems
of medicine, when the physician may perchance be an
infidel and may lose ninety-and-nine patients, while
Christian Science cures its hundred? Is it because
allopathy and homoeopathy are more fashionable and
less spiritual?
Omnipotence set forth
344:32
In the Bible the word Spirit is so commonly applied
In the Bible the word Spirit is so commonly applied
345:1
to Deity, that Spirit and God are often regarded as syn-
to Deity, that Spirit and God are often regarded as syn-
onymous terms; and it is thus they are uniformly used
and understood in Christian Science. As it
is evident that the likeness of Spirit cannot be
material, does it not follow that God cannot be in His
unlikeness and work through drugs to heal the sick?
When the omnipotence of God is preached and His ab-
soluteness is set forth, Christian sermons will heal the
sick.
Contradictions not found
345:10
It is sometimes said, in criticising Christian Science,
It is sometimes said, in criticising Christian Science,
that the mind which contradicts itself neither knows
itself nor what it is saying. It is indeed no
small matter to know one's self; but in this
volume of mine there are no contradictory
statements, – at least none which are apparent to those
who understand its propositions well enough to pass
judgment upon them. One who understands Christian
Science can heal the sick on the divine Principle of Chris-
tian Science, and this practical proof is the only feasible
evidence that one does understand this Science.
345:21
Anybody, who is able to perceive the incongruity be-
Anybody, who is able to perceive the incongruity be-
tween God's idea and poor humanity, ought to be able
to discern the distinction (made by Christian Science)
between God's man, made in His image, and the sinning
race of Adam.
345:26
The apostle says: "For if a man think himself to be
The apostle says: "For if a man think himself to be
something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."
This thought of human, material nothingness, which
Science inculcates, enrages the carnal mind and is the
main cause of the carnal mind's antagonism.
God's idea the ideal man
345:31
It is not the purpose of Christian Science to "educate
It is not the purpose of Christian Science to "educate
the idea of God, or treat it for disease," as is alleged