CS a Science

[Moving Forward]

My person opinion is that the Science behind Christian Science is very powerful. The name Christian has been put with it and many Christians reject Christian Science as it contradicts the bible. Science and Health is a very scientific book even Einstein liked it, if all the Christian verses were taken out of it i believe many more people would be involved in Christian Science.

Sorry, but I had to laugh when I read this. If all the Christian verses were taken out of Science and Health, what would be left? Science and Health explains the Science of Christianity. It seems to me that removing all the Christian verses from it would be like taking a textbook on entomology and removing all references to insects!!!

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Originally Posted by Unregistered

Mary Baker Eddy was well read she obviously did draw from alot of other religions and systems and scientists even though none were mentioned. If you study nonduality and metaphysics etc you will know what im talking about. I think it's quite clear Mrs Eddy knew such people as Buddha, William Blake, George Berkeley, Hegel, Kant and Adi Shankara were. There are many similar themes popping up in her writings.

To me the "science" part of Christian Science is what is more debatable than the Christianity. However, I don't want to debate that right now. What I do find interesting is your observation that Mrs. Eddy drew on inspiration from sources outside of the Bible when formulating the theories that she eventually came to name as Christian Science. In her writings she seems to only mention the Bible, inspiration, and personal experience as the sources for what she came to call Christian Science. I've been reading some of Plato's writing recently and I think it is interesting that some of the ideas that Plato has Socrates express have similarities to aspects of CS theology. I guess what I wonder about is whether the work of past philosophers (outside of the Bible) inspired her, or if she was simply coming up with similar ideas on her own.

The fact remains, nothing in Christian Science has ever been new. It has always existed.

You just mentioned plato. Yes i can see the link there.

Most Christian Scientists seem to believe Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian Science or revived it from where Jesus left off. This is not the case. The law behind CS has existed and always will exist it can be found practically all around the world in every religion, culture amongst many people.

Adi Shankara taught matter was unreal 1000s of years before Mrs Eddy. The Gnostics taught matter was unreal 1000s of years before Mrs Eddy. Buddhists taught the material world was an illusion 1000s of years before Mrs Eddy. George Berkeley taught metaphysical idealism 200 years before Mrs Eddy. Nothing is new in Science and Health. You are going to find similar ideas all around the universe, this stuff hasn't just popped up in the 1800s. Why do i need to be a "Christian Scientist" to have a healing or Spiritual insight? People have been having these for millions of years.

[soapergem]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

The fact remains, nothing in Christian Science has ever been new. It has always existed.

Exactly right! "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." This is exactly what Christian Science teaches, that Truth has existed forever just as mathematics have always existed, and is available to anyone, everyone, all the time! There is a seemingly popular myth that spiritual insight and healing was limited to a short period and to just a select number of people. But we learn in Christian Science that this Principle has always been true and has always been available to everyone, Jew and Gentile, man and woman, people of all nations, all races, all backgrounds. The Christ was not a single man that came and went; it was expressed perfectly by that man but it is always with us. As Mrs. Eddy says in S&H:

It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.

We know that "lo, I am with you alway" is not just a nice thing to say but a divine Principle of the universe that never fails!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Why do i need to be a "Christian Scientist" to have a healing or Spiritual insight? People have been having these for millions of years.

Why do I need to go to school in order to become an artist, a musician, an engineer, or an architect? Sometimes people don't need to go to school, and they can just naturally understand all of these principles right away without the normal formal system of education. But most people do need to learn and study and practice in order to perfect their technique.

The Christ is God speaking to man about Himself, and by listening and obeying this consciousness we are able to understand better the Principle of the universe, better love our neighbor, and heal the sick and sinning. The only way to understand this by going direct to God. We have no power of ourselves to magically make this happen. It is God that does this.

And I do not deny that the philosophers you mentioned certainly must have had glimpses of the Divine Truth in their own studies, since Christ is constantly available to everyone.

Christian Science does not teach that we are separate from God, or that we are temporarily in a bleak or limited existence, or that we transform into flies and grass and cows after death, or that death exists at all and is a relief from worldly troubles, or that we evolved from monkeys, or any of the false conclusions that human systems have come up with. It teaches us Oneness with the Father right now, patience, humility, and always to love.

Jesus was the promised Messiah, not just another prophet in a string of many. He explained the Christ most clearly. And Mrs. Eddy was the first person since his time to formalize this system in a way that works, when understood correctly. And the only way to understand it is to demonstrate it by turning to God and yielding up our own will, by demonstrating ourselves.

But since math exists, it is the job of the mathematician to prove its rules by demonstration. Just the same, it is the job of a Christian Scientist to express God and prove His rules by demonstration, in healing the sick permanently and casting out all sin.

[Moving Forward]

What is behind your drive to remove the concept of Christianity from Christian Science? You say the law behind CS has nothing to do with Christianity, but that just doesn't make sense to me. Christians are followers of Christ. Christian Science teaches that God is the Principle and Truth, i.e. the law, of being and that Jesus’ works and teachings demonstrate how we can apply this law ourselves in a way that allows us to experience the touch of the Christ in our everyday lives. Just because other Christian religions hold to a more mysterious and less scientific interpretation of the scriptures doesn't mean that their views are the only ones that can be called Christian. MBE makes higher demands on Christians than the founders of today’s other Christian religions did by maintaining that we really can follow the teachings of Christ in all their fullness. In my view, at least, that makes her more of a Christian, not less of one. The fact is that everything MBE taught was based on the Bible (in S&H she repeatedly refers to the Bible as her only teacher, textbook, and authority), and she wrote S&H with the sole intention of making available the practical science of the Christ. You might be able to talk about a law of good without referring to Christ Jesus or the teachings of the Bible, but why would you want to? It seems to me that just waters down the substance of what MBE worked so hard to provide.

[MikeDavis]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Adi Shankara taught matter was unreal 1000s of years before Mrs Eddy. The Gnostics taught matter was unreal 1000s of years before Mrs Eddy. Buddhists taught the material world was an illusion 1000s of years before Mrs Eddy. George Berkeley taught metaphysical idealism 200 years before Mrs Eddy. Nothing is new in Science and Health. You are going to find similar ideas all around the universe, this stuff hasn't just popped up in the 1800s. Why do i need to be a "Christian Scientist" to have a healing or Spiritual insight? People have been having these for millions of years.

Contrary to what "Unregistered" implies here, there are big differences between Christian Science and these other religions and philosophies. An excellent discussion of the differences can be found in a chapter entitled "The Tares and the Wheat" in Stephen Gottschalk's book, The Emergence of Christian Science in American Religious Life.