The Washington herald., 1916-10-29
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
DOCTRINES DEFENDED
Based on Teachings of Jesus, Declares
Religious Writer.

'It has been said that every person has
a problem. either physical or mental, a
domestic or a business problem, toward
the solution OF which he needs God S
help; and If Christian Science Is able to
help people to be happy, to be healthy,
to be less fault-finding, to have less fear
and to have more love, then it is some
thing every one must desire"
The foregoing is the opening statement
of an article. entitled Christian Science
A Religion OF Love-" by Virgil o. Strick-
Ter, c. s., published in a recent number
of the Christian Science Journal. Con-
tinuing, the writer says:
| Entirely apart from the question OF
/ physical healing, 1t is generally conceded
that Christian Science produces a happy
and contended mentality, that 1t destroys
fear and makes people loving and kind.
When we add to this the fact that it has
healed many sick people who had pre-
viously been unable to find relief under
| other systems, that it has cured many
OF the drug habit and the HGnor habit,
has restored harmony in many homes
which were discordant, and has given
! hope and courage to those who were dis
couraged It is easy to understand why it
has spread with such wonderful rapidity.
Why Many Oppose 1t.
kolllCG bOCOiIllIlB SnTlSIldn SClen-
tist can understand why the people OF
Of his time were not convinced by the
works Of Christ Jesus that he was the
| true representative of God. They be-
| lieVod that a Messiah would come, but
| they expected him to come in a certain
way and because he did not come in
| that way they refused to believe in him.
| 1t Is the same quality of thought which
| prevents people at the present time from
N Thrfg
is the truth by the works that it does.
| People in other churches pray for the
recovery OF the sick. They do so be-
cause of the promises found in the Bible
but when the healing comes through the
| Christian Science church and as the re-
suit of Christian Science prayer, some
are ready to condemn it-as ready today
as two thousand years ago to declare
that the healing works are done through
Beelzebub.
Let US not ROB ourselves of any good
thing because of prejudice or sectarian-
ism. Christian Science is knocking at the
door of this age with a message OF hope
| for every one. 1t declares that the truth
taught and practiced by Jesus is operating
today, and is as available now as it was
in apostolic times.
THE thing which has caused the most
criticism of Christian Science is that It
spiritual means only. through the me-
dunn of prayer; and as this is the phase
Of Christian Science in which the public
seems to be most interested, we shall en-
deavor to answer the objections which
have been presented to healing by prayer
Two Glasses of Critics.
There are two classes Of critics who
attack Christian Science healing First,
those who say that such healing is
impossible, and that IT is therefore pre-
posterous for Christian Science to
claim that the sick may be healed
without drugs, through the medium of
prayer; and, secondly, those who claim
that it is unscriptural to attempt to do
So All criticisms of Christian Science
healings falls under one of these two
heads.
with respect to the first class,
those who say that the healing is i'm
possible, 1t can only be answered that
through Christian Science all kinds of
diseases have been healed. This can
not be denied. The entire Christian
Science movement is made up of people
who have been healed. Most OF them
turned to Christian Science as a last
resort. after having failed to get re-
lief through other channels. The
Christian Science churches are built
with money contributed as a thank
Offering to God By those who have
been healed through Christian Science.
The person who denies that Christian
Science heals the sick today, is mere
ly closing his eyes to what he does not
wish to see. 1t is a fact that Chris
tian Science does heal all manner OF
diseases and sufferings. and it is a
fact for which every one should be
grateful.
with respect 10 the second class.
those who think that it is unscriptural
for Christian Science to teach that the
sick may be healed without drugs, by
spiritual means only, 1 will say that 1t
is difficult to understand how any per-
son who has studied the Bible or be-
lieves in God, can give place to such a
question. 1t seems obvious that people
who pray to God for everything they
desire might also be expected to pray
to Him for delyeranCe from sickness as
we'll as from sin. Christian Science de-
clares without any equivOCatiOn that the
truth taught by Jesus, when rightly un-
derstood and rightly applied, is sufficient,
without the aid of any material means
whatsoever, both to heal the sick and to
regenerate the sinner This, then, gives
US q starting point from which to begin
to measure Christian Science with the
Scriptures.
at must be admitted that Jesus
healed the sick by metaphysical and not
by physical means. He did not adminis-
ter drugs or recommend their use, and
yet he healed the sick by some process
which was infallible Organic diseases
yielded to his treatment as readily as
those which were purely functional Peo-
pie who were born blind and with
crooked and misshapen bodies, found
themselves restored to normal conditions
under his treatment as readily as those
who were suffering from fevers or insan-
fly.
The question is. How did he do 1t;
and is It possible for human beings now
walking the earth to learn his method
so as to be able to produce cures in the
same way?
MANY believe that Jesus was able to
do his wonderful works because he was
divine, and therefore that It is impos-
sible to do the works he did, and even
blasphemous for any person to claim to
do them. Jesus himself never said any
thing to justify such a belief. Go We into
all the world and preach the gospel
and Heal the SICK were his commands.
1.-THE fact that the primitive church
healed the sick and raised the dead, was
one of the things which first opened my