CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
The movement known
as Christian Science is a religion “emphasizing divine healing as practiced by
Jesus Christ.” It is officially known as The Church of Christ, Scientist (CCS).
Date of origin:
1879
Founder: Mary Baker
Eddy, 1821-1910
Holy book: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary
Baker Eddy
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Doctrinal Comparison – Christian Science vs. the Word of God |
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Topic |
Christian Science |
Christianity |
Scripture |
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Jesus’ Deity |
Jesus is the Son of God, and is
divine, but he is not God: he is not a deity. …Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus
himself declared, but is the Son of God. |
Eternally Existent |
In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God.… …And the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us…. |
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The Creator of All Things |
All things were made through Him,
and without Him nothing was made that was made. … …He was in the world, and the world
was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. [God] has in these last days spoken
to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also
He made the worlds; |
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The Sustainer of All Things |
Who (Jesus) being the brightness of His glory and the express image of
His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by
Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, |
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Jesus Claimed the Authority to
Forgive Sins - (a claim that the scribes labeled as blasphemous) |
Then they came to Him, bringing a
paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him
because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had
broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When
Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are
forgiven you." And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning
in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can
forgive sins but God alone?" But immediately, when Jesus perceived in
His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them,
"Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier,
to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise,
take up your bed and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has
power on earth to forgive sins" |
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Jesus' Crucifixion |
Jesus only seemed to die on the
cross his triumph over the belief in death
demonstrated that man is the perfect, spiritual, reflection of God and that
disease and death are not real Jesus’ shed blood had no power to
cleanse from sin. One sacrifice, however great, is
insufficient to pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires constant
self-immolation on the sinner’s part. That God’s wrath should be vented upon
His beloved Son, is divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man-made. |
Jesus physically died on the cross
to pay for the sins of humankind. Because of Jesus’ sinless nature he was
uniquely qualified to bear the judgment and punishment that God’s holiness
and divine justice demand. Jesus’ shed blood and death paid the debt for all”
for everyone who is prepared to believe. |
By that will we have been
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. knowing that you were not redeemed
with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct
received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. For Christ also suffered once for
sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, And according to the law almost all
things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens
should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better
sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with
hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in
the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the
high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another--He
then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but
now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after
this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To
those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin,
for salvation. |
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Holy Spirit |
The Holy Spirit is Christian Science:
“a scientific system of healing.” |
The Holy Spirit is God—a divine
personality and a member of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is not a set of
spiritually scientific principles. |
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The Holy Spirit Listens To People |
But Peter said, "Ananias, why has
Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the
price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And
after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived
this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." (Acts 5:3-4) |
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The Holy Spirit Helps People Pray |
Likewise the Spirit also helps in
our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the
Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is,
because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27) |
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The Holy Spirit Can Be Grieved |
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit
of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30) |
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The Holy Spirit Rebukes the World
of Sin |
Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It
is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will
not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has
come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment: (John 16:7-8) |
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The Holy Spirit Comforts Believers |
And I will pray the Father, and He
will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-- the Spirit
of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor
knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17) |
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Nature of Man |
Humankind is perfect, spiritual,
and sinless. Man is spiritual and perfect… He is
the compound idea of God, including all right ideas; the generic term for all
that reflects God’s image and likeness..that which has not a single quality
underived from Deity. |
Men and women have sinful natures
and, spiritually speaking, are dead, or, separated from God. |
If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. … … If we say that we have not
sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:8, 10) for all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23) |
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Salvation |
Progressive spiritual understanding
enables one to achieve salvation. Nobody is saved from hell, but one can be saved
from one’s own belief in materiality. Is Life, Truth, and Love understood
and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness and death destroyed. |
Salvation comes by grace through
faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross. Jesus suffered and died on the
cross in our place, because of our sin. Salvation comes by putting our
trust in Him and Him alone. Salvation comes through no other person, by no
other means. Man cannot work to earn his salvation. He bust repent of his
sin, ask God to forgive him his sins, through Jesus Christ, and accept Christ
as his personal Lord and Savior |
For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Therefore by the deeds of the law
no flesh will be justified in His sight …. (Romans 3:20) Jesus said to him, "I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6) Nor is there salvation in any
other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we
must be saved." (Acts 4:12) For the wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) |
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Judgment |
Christian Science teaches that
there is no final judgment. No final judgment awaits mortals,
for the judgment-day of wisdom comes hourly and continually, even the
judgment by which mortal man is divested of all material error. |
Everyone will be judged on the day
of judgment. |
And as it is appointed for men to
die once, but after this the judgment, (Hebrews 9:27) But I say to you that for every
idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
(Matthew 12:36) "Not everyone who says to Me,
'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of
My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many
wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart
from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' (Matthew 7:21-23) |
