Basic Christian Science Doctrine

(A listing and rebuttal of the heretical teachings of Mary Baker Eddy as recorded in her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.)


The Doctrine of Death:

· Death is a mortal illusion, unreal and untrue.  (pp. 44, 289, 380, 427-28, 575, 584)

     Answer:
          Death of their own people.
          Mary Baker Eddy died, or where is she?
          Christ said Lazarus was dead (John 11:14).
          Philippians 2:26-27.

The Doctrine of God:

· God is All.  It is very hard to derive at an exact definition for god according to Mrs. Eddy's writings.  Whatever is good is God.  Elohim is the true spiritual God, while Jehovah is the Hebrew God that is liable to error.  (pp. 113, 140 (Jehovah), 256, 331, 336-37, 465)

Answer:     Mrs. Eddy quotes Psalm 23 as “Divine Love (God) is my shepherd…” on page 578; however, Psalm 23 actually says, “God”, “The Lord”, “Jahweh” (Jehovah)–thus, Mrs. Eddy equates Jehovah with 'Divine Love.'  How did she arrive at this definition of Jehovah?

· God is not a personal God.  He has no human attributes.

     Answer:
          God remembers (Isaiah 43:25).
          God speaks (Isaiah 42:8).
          God hears and sees (Genesis 6:5; Exodus 2:24).
          God judges (Ezekiel 34:20).
          God is a personal spirit-His person (Hebrews 1:3).

· Christian Scientists believe in the providence of God.  (pp. 128, 231, 295, 393, 424)

Answer:     Remember, if God is all which they claim, then God could not govern or preserve all, because God is all there is to be governed.  (Look at p. 295, “God creates and governs the universe…”)

          Points to Observe:
          1) There is no creation.
          2) You can't govern what is not there.
          3) How can God govern or preserve that which is identical to himself?
          4) If God is not a person or does not possess a personality, but is a divine principle, how can a non-personality preserve or govern?

The Doctrine of Creation:

· There is no creation of material or matter, but only creation of ideas and thoughts.  (pp. 501-557: the commentary on Genesis-incredible!)

     Answer:
          Why do we need thoughts if there is no evil or creation-what are the thoughts for?
          Why did God call or name items by material names?
          How did Mrs. Eddy arrive at these ideas?

The Doctrine of Man:

· Man is timeless.  (pp. 79; Msc. Writings pp. 206, 302, 338, 485)
· Man has no body.  (pp. 471, 475)

Answer:
     I Corinthians 6:19-your body
     I Thessalonians 5:23
     Psalm 100:3
     Psalm 89:48
     I Corinthians 15:47
     Also, if God and man are equal, then how can God be the highest form of truth, and not man?  We have already established that Christian Science teaches that man has no mortal mind and God is all; however, Christian Science also claims the error of mortal mind exists-therefore, God becomes the source of error.  The reasoning does not make sense.

The Doctrine of Christ:

· Christian Scientists deny the deity of Christ.  (p. 361)
· Christ is a divine idea.  (pp. 29, 231, 347, 473)
· The Christian Scientist puts a distinction between Jesus and Christ.  They claim that Christ is the divine truth and infallible.  He is an idea, not a person.  (pp.347, 361, Msc. Writing p. 84)
· Jesus is the fallible son of God, a human man.  (pp. 93, 146, 332)

Answer:
     Jesus is now called a concept on page 589.
     If there is no such thing as man or matter, how can Jesus be human?  (John 1:1,14)
     We can see the ascension on pages 333 and 334, yet how could there be, and if there was, then the material of Jesus would no longer exist.  (Matthew 2:4; 3:17; I John 2:22; 5:1)