I bet everyone has heard of the cult "Scientology“. What about Christian Science? Ok, first some background information about Christian Science. It was founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879. It was basically initiated by her because of a very controversial story. At 45 years old, she had an accident, she fell and was seriously injured, people didn't think she would ever recover. It was said that she read an extract of the bible, to be precise “Matt. 9:2” (“And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee“). After having read this, the miracle really did occur, she was cured. She was convinced her faith had healed her. She was convinced of Christian Science. A few years, and a publication of a book later, she founded the new “religion”, what she called it. She organized a church in Boston, Massachusetts, basing her church on the new testament.
The following 21 points are basically what the Church is based upon. (Taken from the site: http://www.carm.org/christian_science/doctrine.htm)
1. God is infinite...and there is no other power or source, S&H, 471:18.
2. God is Universal Principle, S&H 331:18-19
3. God cannot indwell a person, S&H 336:19-20
4. God is the only intelligence in the universe, including man S&H 330:11-12
5. God is Mind, S&H 330:20-21; 469:13
6. God is the Father-Mother, S&H 331:30; 332:4
7. The Trinity is Life, Truth, and Love, S&H 331:26
8. Belief in the traditional doctrine of the Trinity is polytheism, S&H 256:9-11
9. Christ is the spiritual idea of sonship S&H 331:30-31
10. Jesus was not the Christ, S&H 333:3-15; 334:3
11. "Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus himself declared..." S&H 361:12-13
12. Jesus did not reflect the fullness of God, S&H 336:20-21
13. Jesus did not die, S&H 45:32-46:3
14. The Holy Spirit is divine science, S&H 331:31
15. There is no devil, S&H 469:13-17
16. There is no sin, S&H 447:24
17. Evil and good are not real, S&H, 330:25-27; 470:9-14
18. Matter, sin, and sickness are not real, but only illusions," S&H 335:7-15; 447:27-28.
19. Life is not material or organic, "S&H, 83:21
20. The sacrifice of Jesus was not sufficient to cleanse from sin, "S&H, 25:6.
21. True healings are the result of true belief, "S&H, 194:6"
So how can a cult, church or religion even mention “Christian” in its title, if it obviously denies the most vital points of Christianity?
Now to the a bit scarier part. Regarding the 21st and last statement, healings are a result of true belief. Maybe it's easier to understand if I put this in a different way. They do not believe in doctors, or medicine, or any intake of supplements, which would “heal” the body. Yes, I did not write heal, I wrote, “heal. They do not believe that illnesses exist. They believe that it is all in your mind. An illusion. I will base it on a short example:
Pretend you are a, let's say, 13 year old kid. You live in a family who believe in the cult Christian Science. You never questioned it, I mean, after all, they are your parents, who are you to question? One day, you notice that you're body is becoming weaker and weaker. You notice you barely have any energy left. All you want to do is sleep. You stop eating. You stop caring. You are terribly ill. Of course, your family tells you that you are totally disillusioned, because illness doesn't exist. God is omnipresent, so no evil happenings are able to take place. They take you to church the next Sunday. The fact that they have to carry you to church, because your “illusion” is starting to get very extreme, is annoying them. At church, the leader, priest or whatever they call them, comes up to you and starts yelling at you, hitting you so he can drive the devil out of you, so he can eliminate your idiotic illusion.
A few weeks later, your family is standing in a circle at a graveyard. You are in a grave, six feet under.
Unfortunately, between 1975 and 1995 64 children and many adults have deceased because of their disillusionment of the absence of anything related to evilness and illness. Basically, parents are letting their own kids die because of their naïve beliefs. Many skeptics, for example Richard Dawkins (The God delusion) try to get some sense into the people that have been lured into these cults. It is close to brainwashing, what they do to you, and it is almost impossible to get their ideas and beliefs out of their heads once it has settled there.
And all that, because one person in the 19th century was naïve enough to believe that her faith had healed her, that the world we live in only consists of Good and God and illusions.
The terrible thing is, dependant children die because of this. Skeptics and lecturers may get some sense into a bunch of people, but the majority of them is convinced they are right, so basically the government should intervene and knock some reality into those gullible brains, to stop more people from dieing senselessly, while most of them could have easily been helped.
You begin to write this post with only a slight hint of your opinion in it. Which is fine because it seems you researched this part of your post. I am not denying any of the facts in the first paragraphs and I am not denying the lists of points you have. The problem I have is with your 4th paragraph about your example of a 13 year old kid.
I begin to wonder if you even know what you are talking about, or if you are just going off on an opinionated rant. Have you ever stepped into a Christian Science church, or at the very least researched what happens in one?
First of all, there is no \"priest\". There is a reader that reads passages from the Bible and Science and Health. The reader does not inject his/her own opinions as most other religions do.
Secondly, physical abuse has never solved any problems and I doubt anyone at a Christan Science church would hit someone because they were ill.
Thirdly, Christian Scientists do not believe in the devil. You probably would have discovered this if you had read past the first paragraph of the Wikipedia page you got your information from.
Fifthly, Christian Scientists tend to not morn the death of a loved one . They do not believe that death is a sad situation, but rather a progression of the mind to greater spiritual understanding. Funerals are not common among most Christian Science families.
I believe I have said enough so I won\'t talk about the misconceptions and rumors in your lasts paragraphs. Although I will say that people in every religion die. You can not accuse Christian Scientists of not caring for their followers due to their beliefs, while every other religion has people of the same age, race, or sex dying too.
You are entitled to your opinion. But before you spread lies all over the internet, please do some legitimate research first. It is an insult to my religion.