"Science Falsely So Called"
By Alvin S. Kellogg
Repudiates the Necessity of a Saviour—Denies
"There were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." 2 Peter 2: 1, 2. There were false prophets in the past, and there will be false teachers in these days. Peter declares that they will "privily" bring in something. And that which is brought in is declared to be "damnable heresies." Heresy is anything that is contrary to sound doctrine. But note that this is not only heresy, but "damnable heresies"; and that which is damnable must originate with Satan himself. The only sound doctrine in this world is that which has for its foundation a plain "Thus saith the Lord." Its first principles must rest upon the fundamental truth of all truths, that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God." Matt. 16: 13-18. It is upon this truth that the church of God now rests, and will rest through the ages. It is this truth that is the true key to the Scriptures and to the kingdom of heaven. And our opening text includes Christian Science. CUT OFF FROM ETERNAL LIFE
What is the effect of these "damnable heresies"? — They are said to lead those who accept them to "denying the Lord that bought them." Is there anything like that taught in Christian Science? — Yes, emphatically. On page 23 of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy's book, "Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures," we read: "One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires constant self-immolation on the sinner's part. That God's wrath should be vented upon His beloved Son, is divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man-made." Again, on page 38: "The eternal Christ, His spiritual selfhood, never suffered." This is a denial of "the Lord that bought us," which cuts off from eternal life the one who knowingly and willfully indorses such teaching, as quickly and surely as did the act of Adam when he partook of the forbidden fruit; and it brings, as stated in 2 Peter 2: 1, last clause, "swift destruction" upon those who accept it. Hence it is an exact fulfillment of this prophecy given by Peter. Christian Science denies that sin exists. Ibid., page 472: "Question.—What is error? Answer.—Error is a supposition that pleasure and pain, that intelligence, substance, life, are existent in matter. Error is neither mind nor one of mind's faculties. . . . Error is unreal because untrue. . . . Question.—Is there no sin? Answer.—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. We learn in Christian Science that all inharmony of mortal mind or body is illusion, possessing neither reality nor identity, though seeming to be real and identical." How different is all this from the definition given in the word of God, which plainly says, "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3: 4. Paul says, "I had not known sin, but by the law." Rom. 7: 7. And again, speaking of the result of sin, he says, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5: 12. Paul again points out the reality of sin when he says there is no way of getting rid of sin, it is so real, unless the old man is crucified: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Rom. 6: 6. When this is done, then "ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Col. 3: 3. This blessed state brings the promise in the following verse: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." In Mrs. Eddy's definition as given above, sin is unreal; therefore it exists only in the imagination. This conception entirely destroys the gospel, which Paul declares is "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1: 16); for if sin be not real, then there is no need of the gospel, no need of a Saviour. This is "denying the Lord that bought them." And just as surely as it is knowingly accepted by any one, that one has brought upon himself "swift destruction." On page 402 of Mrs. Eddy's book, we read: "The time approaches when mortal mind will forsake its corporeal, structural, and material basis; when immortal mind and its formations will be apprehended in Science, and material beliefs will not interfere with spiritual facts. Man is indestructible and eternal." How strikingly this harmonizes with Gen. 3: 4, "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die." OPPOSITIONS OF FALSE SCIENCE
Christ was our example in all things; and when He was on earth, He left us many examples of how to teach. On the memorable resurrection day, we find Him in company with two of His disciples, and He begins to teach them the truth concerning the Messiah. "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." What was the effect of such teaching? "And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?" Luke 24: 27, 32. Quite contrary to all this is the teaching of Mrs. Eddy in her "Key to the Scriptures," forsaking and ignoring the plain "Thus saith the Lord," denying and disputing its plainest statements. In Daniel 1 we read of certain "children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science," that "God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom." Verses 4, 17. And of Daniel we read, "We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God." Daniel was a true scientist, and his knowledge of science led him to stand firmly and squarely for, and in harmony with, the law of his God, the transgression of which is sin; the penalty, death. Paul warned Timothy, and us through him, of a certain thing said by him to be "profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith." 1 Tim. 6: 20, 21. There were some professing it in the days of Paul, and Peter says there will be many teaching it in these last days.