Of all the biblically based cults in America today,
Christian Science is one of the most interesting. Not only
does it deny the essential doctrines of Christianity, but it
has completely reinterpreted the Bible. It drastically
redefines the Bible’s culture and terminology and rips
thousands of scriptures out of their historical and biblical
contexts. The result is a non-Christian mixture of
metaphysical and philosophical thoughts. Christian Science
is so foreign to the Bible that, if it didn’t use words like
Jesus, Trinity, Love, Grace, Sin, etc., you’d never suspect
it had anything to do with the Bible at all. Additionally,
the book
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which is
the Christian Scientist’s mainstay of spiritual knowledge,
reads with a rhythm of pseudo logical statements that has
the tendency to dull the senses when read long enough. Is
Christian Science Christian? Definitely not.
Science and Health with Key to
the Scriptures is the primary interpretive source of the
Bible and source guide of Christian Science. It interprets
the Bible in a radically different way. It is so different,
in fact, that it absolutely rejects the substitutionary
atonement of Jesus and states that it had no efficacious
value (S&H, 25:6). It denies that Jesus is God,
second person of the Trinity (S&H, 361:12-13). It
says that sin is a false interpretation of Divine Mind and
is nonexistent (S&H, 335:7-15). And it says that the
Holy Spirit is Divine Science which is best represented by
Christian Science (S & H, 331:31). The list can go on and,
unfortunately, it does.
To the Christian Scientist, God
(the Father-Mother) is a Principle known as the Divine Mind.
It has no personhood and no personality. A catch phrase used
in their literature is that God is "All in All." In other
words, God is all that exists and what we perceive as matter
is an interpretation of divine mind. Since God is love, it
means that sin and sickness are only errors of interpreting
the Divine Mind and have no true reality (S & H, 330:25-274;
470:9-14).
To the Christian Scientist, Jesus
is a Way-shower. He is someone who epitomized the true
principle of the Christ Consciousness which indwells us all.
Therefore, Jesus did not really die on the cross. He was not
God in flesh. He made no atonement in shedding His blood
(S&H, 25:6).
Christian Science teaches that man
does not have a sinful nature and is a reflection of Divine
Mind. To achieve "salvation," he needs only to find the true
reality of understanding, as revealed in Christian Science
teachings. Unfortunately, these teachings are from Mary
Baker Eddy a woman who founded the religion in the 1870's
and not from God.
The Christian Scientists consider
their philosophy to be consistent with the original
teachings of Jesus. They consider truth a matter of higher
understanding and learning. But the reality is that
Christian Science has only produced unbiblical and false
doctrines. Eternal destruction is the only thing that will
result from its false teaching. The fires of hell will be a
bitter reality for those who have been taught that they
don’t exist. |
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