Questions and Answers
The information provided on this page is presented from the pamphlet "Facts about Christian Science" as published by the Christian Science Publishing Society in 1959. It is intended to provide a clearer understanding about Christian Science. If you still have remaining questions, you may visit a Christian Science Reading Room and chat with an attendant, or contact the Clerk for further information.
FACTS ABOUT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
Question: What is Christian Science?
Answer: Christian Science is a religion based on the words and works of Christ Jesus. It draws its authority from the Bible, and its teachings are set forth in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. A distinctive part of Christian Science is its healing of physical disease as well as sin by spiritual means alone.
Question: What are its basic teachings?
Answer: The Tenets of Christian Science are found on page 497 of Science and Health and read as follows:
1. As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.
2. We acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God. We acknoledge His Son, one Christ; the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God's image and likeness.
3. We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spirtual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished as long as the belief lasts.
4. We acknowledge Jesus' atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man's unity with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death.
5. We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the nothingness of matter.
6. And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.
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More information about Christian Science can be found on www.christianscience.com. Here is a brief excerpt of what can be discovered on the site:
Core Beliefs
Christian Scientists believe in one, infinite God who is All and all-good. They believe that God is not distant and unknowable, but that God is all-encompassing and always present, and that each individual is loved by God, cared for by Him, and made in God’s image—spiritual, not material.
Christian Scientists believe in the Bible and in Christ Jesus as the Son of God, or promised Messiah. And they believe that Jesus’ teachings and healing work expressed scientific Christianity, or the application of the laws of God—laws which are still practical and provable today, by anyone, anywhere. Christian Scientists consider the Commandments, as well as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, to be central to their lives and practice of Christianity.
Above all, Christian Scientists believe in the saving, healing power of God’s love—that no one is beyond redemption, that no problem is too entrenched or overwhelming to be addressed and healed. In other words, Christian Scientists don’t believe that salvation occurs at some point in the future, but that the presence of God’s goodness can be experienced here and now—and by everyone.
One of the best ways to learn more about Christian Science is to explore the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
