Christian Science and the Bible
By James Taphouse
Its Lack of Harmony with Plain Scripture Statement In 1 Tim. 6: 20, 21 is a warning against the “oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith”; and in 2 Tim. 2: 18 we read that some “concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already.” A lecturer said recently that Christian Science is the resurrection, and the life. On page 547 of my edition of “Science and Health” Mrs. Eddy says, “If one of the statements in this book is true, every one must be true.” We will examine a few statements of this book, throwing upon each the search-light of God’s word, which we know to be infallible. In Isa. 8: 20 we read, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” I am glad that we have a divine standard for the measurement of all theories purporting to be truth. On page 534 of her book, Mrs. Eddy claims to be the first to interpret the Scriptures in their true sense. But the Scriptures do not need a human interpreter, for “no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.” 2 Peter 1: 20. But after reading only a few pages of Mrs. Eddy’s “Key to the Scriptures,” the Bible student can not fail to discover the weakness of private interpretation. This so-called key shuts out every ray of light, leaving nothing but the grossest darkness. In 2 Peter 2: 1, 2 we read that there would be false teachers who would even deny “the Lord that bought them,” and that “many shall follow their pernicious ways” and cause the truth to be evil spoken of. On page 23 of “Science and Health” we read, “One sacrifice however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin”; and on pages 24 and 25 Mrs. Eddy denies the efficacy of Christ’s blood for the pardon of sinners. These statements alone are sufficient to condemn the entire system of Christian Science, being a denial of the Lord who bought them, in the light of the following scriptures: 1 Cor. 6: 19, 20; 1 Peter 1: 18, 19; 1 John 1: 7; Heb. 10: 10-14; 9: 22, 23; Lev. 17: 11. It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. On page 45 Mrs. Eddy says, quoting Rom. 5: 10, “We were reconciled to God by the [seeming] death of His Son.” If this were true the reconciliation must also be “seeming.” On page 46 the statement is made that “after His crucifixion” the disciples “learned that He had not died.” As we examine these expressions in the light of Heb. 2: 9, 14; 2 Cor. 5: 14, 15; and 1 Cor. 15: 1-3, we are constrained to address the many thousands who are being led astray, in the words of Paul in Gal. 3: 1; O, foolish people, who hath bewitched you? Satan’s first lie in the Garden of Eden was a direct contradiction of God’s word, and is the key to every other deception. The serpent said to the woman, “Ye shall not surely die: . . . ye shall be as gods.” Gen. 3: 4, 5. In other words, you can not die, because you are immortal. On page 524 of “Science and Health” Mrs. Eddy declares that Gen. 2: 7 is a lie, that God did not form man from the dust, that man had no material existence when God created him; but she fails to enlighten us as to man’s material origin. On page 545 we read, “The mortality of man is a myth, for man is immortal.” Compare this statement with Job 4: 17 and 1 Tim. 6: 15, 16 and we discover it to be a repetition of Satan’s first lie. On page 75 we read, “Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that Lazarus had never died.” Yet Jesus said plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” John 11: 14. On page 251 Mrs. Eddy states: “In the illusion of death, mortals wake to the knowledge of two facts: (1) that they are not dead; (2) that they have but passed the portals of a new belief.” Gen. 3: 4, 5. On page 266: “Man is deathless, spiritual. He is above sin or frailty.” Compare such statements with Heb. 9: 27; 1 John 1: 8; and Rom. 6: 23. On page 291 it is said, “No final Judgment awaits mortals,” but Acts 17: 31 and 2 Cor. 5: 10 say the opposite. In the light of these scriptures, surely these statements of Mrs. Eddy’s are deceptions. ANGELS MORE THAN MERE “THOUGHTS”
On page 298 we read, “Angels are pure thoughts from God,” and yet the Bible tells of one angel that destroyed in one night 185,000 men (2 Kings 19: 35), and one angel delivered Peter from a closely guarded prison. Acts 12: 1-12. In Mrs. Eddy’s key to the first chapter of Genesis, it is stated that there was no material earth created, no fish, or fowl, beasts, or creeping things, and no material man; all these things were symbols of exalted thoughts or ideas. This is certainly a travesty on the word of God. From page 515 of this book, we quote: “Your mirrored reflection is your own image or likeness. If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also. . . . Now compare man before the mirror to his divine principle, God. Call the mirror divine science, and call man the reflection. Then note how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection to its original.”
As there is no reality to our reflection in the mirror, even so, if mankind is simply a reflection of God in the mirror of Christian Science, and as every reflection differs from every other, there must be as many gods as there are reflections. And as reflections in the mirror are nothing, so the teaching of Christian Science reduces man to nothing. In view of the foregoing comparisons with the Bible of a few of the many unreasonable statements of Christian Science, we can arrive at no other conclusion than that Christian Science, falsely so called, fulfills to the letter 2 Peter 2: 1, 2 and 2 Cor. 11: 3, 4. “Such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Cor. 11: 13-15. So Satan has apostles, prophets, workers, ministers, miracles, with a message that will deceive if possible the very elect. Matt. 24: 24. The Bible alone will be our safeguard in these times of satanic delusions. God’s Spirit will soon cease striving with man, and then for a short time Satan will work with all power and signs and lying wonders (2 Thess. 2: 8-11), and all who receive not the love of the truth will readily believe a lie. I am thankful that in the word of God we have the pure and unadulterated gospel, stripped of all the sophistries and delusions of the devil, restoring to man that which Adam possessed before he fell. We have the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.