Is Christian Science Christian or is it a cult?
What are some differences between their belief system and the Christian Orthodox view? Now Christian Science Church is not Christians who believe in science. This is different. Let’s start from the beginning. So it begins with Phineas Parkhurst Quimby.
Phineas was the founder of the New Thought movement. He was from New England, and his practices involved using hypnosis and suggestion to heal. He had this teaching that sickness is only in your mind, and it’s stemming from wrong thoughts. Somewhat traceable to Plato who taught that ideas are more real than the material substances which reflect those forms. This guy, Phineas, had a student named Mary Baker Eddy who founded Christian Science, drawing upon his teaching and modifying them.
Who is Mary Baker Eddy?
Now a little bit about Mary Baker Eddy. She was born in 1821 and died in 1910 and was from New Hampshire. She experienced much suffering in her life and her first husband died 6 months into the marriage. The second marriage ended in divorce. She became a student and patient of Phineas Quimby. Eddy claims that in 1866, she slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk and was bedridden for months and near death, but that Phineas’s teaching resulted in her miraculous recovery. She penned “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” in 1872 and founded the Church of Christ, in Boston, Massachusetts in 1879, and in 1810 she died in Christian Science churches and societies worldwide with pneumonia.
Here are some of the basic statistics of the Christian Science Church.
As of 2023, there are 1,253 churches and societies worldwide. The 839 churches and societies in the United States. So it’s not a very large sect. These churches are in decline. Christian Science has lost over 1,000 churches, and societies in the USA alone since the late 1980s. As of 2017, there are an estimated 100,000 to 420,000 worshippers or people who subscribe to this religion worldwide. Now one of the reasons we’re highlighting that is because you, probably are going to see a church with the name Christian Science. You know you’ve seen that famous meme or video of Tom Cruz jumping on Oprah’s couch as he was or still is a scientist, and other Hollywood stars are suing the Christian Science Church. Now what are their beliefs compared to Christian values or Christian beliefs? We will compare them side by side.
1. The physical, material world is not real:
The first one is the physical, material world is not real. Mary Baker Eddy who founded the Christian Science Church, writes about Genesis 2:7 where God formed man from the dust of the ground. This is what she says, and I quote, “Is this addition to his creation real or unreal? Is this the truth, or the lie concerning man and God? it must be the latter. ”
In other words, she’s saying that this is not real. Christianity though teaches that God created a physical world, and Genesis 2:7 is truth, not a lie.
2. Only the Universal Spiritual Mind is real
Secondly, they believe that only a universal spiritual mind is real. Again in Eddie’s commentary of Genesis 2:7, she says, “Earth and water have been spoken of, but they represent spiritual ideas. ” She denies the reality of earth and water, that is of the physical world.
Christian faith affirms the existence of both spiritual and physical worlds. The Genesis account of God creating the physical universe out of nothing is true.
3. God is Mind
The third thing they believe that’s contrary to what we believe as Christians and that is God is Mind. Eddy writes, “God is Mind” in her Science and Health, page 378. She also writes in the same book, on page 450, “Did the Infinite Principle become a finite deity, that He should now be called Lord or Jehovah? ” See for Christians, God is not a “principle” but indeed is a Person. He’s not merely a “mind” but truly a Spirit who is mindful and conscious.
4. All conscious beings are Minds:
Fourthly, they believe that all conscious beings are Minds. Eddy again in the same book, writes that “man is spiritual and not material. ” Christians however fully affirm and value the existence of the physical dimension of human beings.
Humans are both spirits as well as physical bodies. We also have a third dimension referred to as a soul, which perhaps encompasses the realm of human emotions.
5. Sickness, suffering, sin, and evil are not real because the physical world is not real:
The fifth distinction between the Christian Science Church and Christians is sickness, suffering, sin and evil are not real because the physical world is not real. Again Eddy in her Science and Health, page 317, writes, “The illusion named death, sickness, and sin are all that can be destroyed. ” She calls it an illusion. She writes, “Sin is the unreality of being. ” Again on page 330, she says, “This mortal dream of sickness, sin, and death should cease through Science. ” See for Christians, these things are very real. In our teaching, we see in the Bible, but also in reality that death is not an illusion. People die. Sin is not an illusion. Sickness is also not an illusion. The physical world is not evil in itself, for God created all physical things and created them good and very good.
But because of sin which is very real, it’s not a fantasy, and it’s not just something that we conjured up. It’s not an illusion, it’s a real thing. Jesus came to redeem us from this sin. He died for us and heals the sick. He helps us to overcome suffering, and one day there’s going to be no more death because Jesus already defeated death. So, another thing I want to highlight is that Christians do not deny the reality of suffering. Christians teach that through Jesus and the power of the Gospel, sickness, suffering, sin and evil are being defeated. Ultimately, Jesus Christ will, in a physical body, return to earth and conquer sin, sickness, suffering and evil permanently. Christians do not deny the reality of sin. Sin is disobedience to God and sin is very real.
6. People suffer because they believe the illusion is real:
Now the sixth difference is people suffer because they believe the illusion is real. So Eddy, she writes in her book Science and Health, page 408. “The only reality of sin, sickness, or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human belief until God strips off their disguise. ” So pretty much the only reason, why we have these things is because we believe in this awful unreality. That it’s just an illusion, and when God comes, He strips us of this illusion and then we have no more sickness, sin and death.
Pretty much it’s, it’s all in your head. But Christianity teaches that people suffer because sin entered the world through Adam’s disobedience to God, and disobedience brought suffering and death into the world. Therefore suffering occurs because nature itself is broken. Suffering happens because of the human choice to sin, and suffering occurs because of the activity of Satan and evil spirits that are under his authority.
7. Salvation and healing mean becoming aware of the illusion:
Salvation and healing means becoming aware of the illusion, or the non-existence of the material world. So pretty much to be saved, you have to ignore the facts, which they call an illusion. Eddy writes in her book Science and Health, page 76, she writes “There is but one way to heaven, –harmony –and Jesus showed us this way. ” Again she writes, “Interpreting God as a personal Savior, instead of a saving Principle, we shall continue to seek salvation through pardon and not through reform, and resort to matter instead of a Spirit to heal the sick. ” In other words, she rejects the personal Savior, she rejects pardon from sin, and she replaces it with reform, and she sees the answer for salvation is Spirit.
Meaning we have to reject this illusion of sin, sickness and death. But salvation means we recognize the reality of our sin and participation in it. We repent from our sinful participation and take responsibility for our actions within the physical world. We accept the very physical work of Jesus Christ, on the very physical cross, where He shed His very physical blood to satisfy the wrath of God. And submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over every aspect of our existence, both physical and spiritual.
8. Forgiveness of sins is realizing that sin does not exist:
Forgiveness of sins is realizing that sin doesn’t exist. That’s pretty much what Christian Science teaches. In her book, page 381. She says, “Being destroyed,” meaning this illusion that sin is real, Eddy says, “Sin needs no forgiveness. ” In other words, once people realize that sin is not real, there is no sin that needs to be forgiven, Quite the opposite. For Christians, forgiveness of sins means acknowledging the terrible reality of sin, repenting from it and trusting in the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ. You know you did something bad, and there is an actual Person who died on the cross physically for you.
It’s not in your head. You’re not just now needing to completely forget that you’ve done something bad. People were hurt by it. And forgiveness you know deals with actually Jesus dying on the cross for you, you receiving that gift. And the reason why it’s free for you is because it’s not free for Him. This is not just mental gymnastics as the Christian Science Church teaches.
9. Jesus is not God:
Nine is Jesus is not God. See Eddy believes, and she writes on page 495 in her Science and Health book, “The Christ is the Principle of the man Jesus. It is the Principle of him that may called divine, not the man Jesus. ” For Christians, Jesus is not the Father, but He is a God and fully man.
Christians affirm the reality of the Triune God. Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus was fully God and fully man. Jesus is not a principle. He is a Person.
10. Jesus did not die on the cross:
Jesus did not die on the cross. Eddy writes, in her book Christian Science, page 287. “Christ’s students, not sufficiently advanced to fully understand their Master’s triumph, did not perform many wonderful works until they saw him after his crucifixion and learned that he had not died. ” Whoa. So His disciples couldn’t do anything because until they saw Him that He did not die, that’s what she says.
That’s pretty straight heresy. Jesus’s physical death upon the wooden cross is the fundamental teaching of the entire Christian message. All of history revolves around Jesus’s death on the cross and His resurrection, physical resurrection and His physical ascension into heaven.
11. Jesus’ blood has no special power:
Jesus’s blood has no special power in her book Science and Health, on page 9, she says, “The material blood of Jesus was no more effectual to cleanse from sin, when it was shed upon “the accursed tree,” than it was flowing in his veins, as he went daily about his Father’s business.
” Well, believers, we teach that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins, Hebrews 9:22. The Bible also teaches that Jesus’s blood, shed upon the cross, established a new covenant between God and God’s people,
12. The Bible is not without error:
The Bible is not without error. Now Eddy writes about Genesis 2:7 as we highlighted before, which says that God formed the dust from the ground, and am going to quote the same quote that I used at the beginning of this video, “Is this addition to his creation real or unreal? Is this the truth or the lie, concerning God and man? ” It must be the latter.
” She says that on page 450. You can also see it on 151. So though she uses a lot of Bible language, she doesn’t believe that the Bible is without error. She thinks that the Bible lies straight from the beginning. See Evangelical Christians teach that the Bible in its original autographs, that means the original copies penned by Isaiah, Peter, Paul etc is God’s breath and without error.
Lastly, Mary Baker Eddy’s book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” is the best guide to realizing the illusion of the physical world and finding freedom from sickness, suffering, sin and evil. The Bible tells us in the last Book, Revelation, that no one is to add or subtract anything from the Word of God. And so if we do that our names are going to be subtracted from the book of life. So no other teachings are to be added or doctrines to be added. So Mary Baker Eddy is wrong, and the Christian Science Church, is heretical, it’s a cult.
It propagates demonic doctrine that’s contrary to the Biblical teaching about the reality of the physical world, the reality of sin, sickness, and suffering, the reality of death, the reality of Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection and the truth of God not being the Mind or the Principle but being a real Being, Spirit who is one God in three Persons. In other words, the Christian faith emphasizes the goodness of God’s physical creation, but it recognizes that this creation has been marred by sin.
Our task as believers is not to deny the physical world, nor to deny the reality of suffering, sickness, sin and death. Our task is to bring the healing power of Jesus to the physical world in which we live. It was through the physicality of Jesus’s suffering that salvation was provided for. He shed His physical blood to establish a covenant, that is both physical and spiritual.
Jesus bore physical wounds to heal both our physical bodies and our spiritual existence. He rose physically from death in a literal physical body. Yes, a body with special powers. A body that is incorruptible, not mortal, but He rose again in a very tangible physical body. That is the hope of the Christian. We shall be like Him in new bodies one day. Until that day, we must bring the power of the kingdom of God into this broken, suffering and weeping world. And if you are a part of a Christian Science church, get out, and renounce that heresy. Embrace the Gospel, the truth of Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection. Receive the forgiveness of your sins, real sins from the real death of Jesus Christ and experience new, real life. And stop believing this garbage that somehow everything is only mental and spiritual. Things are spiritual. God is a Spirit, we have spirits. But some things are physical and we also embrace reality as the Bible shows us how.