CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

“Gnosticism is a term that designates a variety of religious movements that stressed salvation through gnosis, or 'knowledge,' that is of one's origins...Most scholars would identify as an essential of Gnosticism the element of cosmological dualism – an opposition between the spiritual world and the evil material world.” (Yamauchi)

I have actually never met a practitioner of Christian Science although one or two acquaintances years ago said that their grandmothers were believers. So I had somehow assumed that particular heresy nowadays was relegated to the dustbin and only alive in a few very elderly believers. Then in the mail a few days ago I received by accident a copy of the Christian Science Sentinel.

One can get a good feel for some of the key doctrines of the group simply be looking at word frequencies in the teachings found in the first eight pages. The emphasis placed on gnosis is quite clear:

God is defined as Truth (always with a capital T) four times, Divine Mind three times, “one mind” once, and “intelligence” once. Christ is called Truth four times, “spiritual idea” once, and “the true idea” once.

Other related words stressing the fact that all we need to do is to fully comprehend the reality of the truth regarding God and how He is already present within us are: understand (2x), true (5x), recognize (1x), real (1x), fact (2x), reality (2x), know (2x), knowing (2x), truth (12x), pay attention (1x), recognition (1x), understanding (1x), realism (1x), thought(s) (6x), consciousness (1x), and proving (1x).

The opposition of Truth, which is all spiritual in their beliefs, and the Material is also taught. However, somewhat unlike most Gnostic groups, the Christian Scientists do not treat the material as a lower form of reality. Instead, it is called “mistaken identity” and “mistaken corporeal sense.” But the strangest thing about their belief set is that it appears the predominant purpose behind unleashing this spiritual “Power” (mentioned ten times in these pages) is to cure one of all material ailments, as witnessed by the testimonials given in the other pages of the Sentinel.

It turns out, according to their teachings, that we are actually already whole and in God's image; we just don't realize it yet:

    “the underlying identity we each have”

    “boundless qualities from the Divine that we each inherently possess”

    “a harmony that's already ours”

    “This innate harmony is our and everyone's reflection of God's own harmonious nature.”

    “our real, spiritual identity”

    “inherent spirituality”

    “everyone's true spiritual identity”

    “my spiritual identity”

    “spiritual harmony God bestows upon us all”

    “We are naturally nonreactive to selfish and offensive speech and behaviors.”

    “peaceful, steady grace is already fully in every single one of us.”

    “our true spiritual identity”

    “as God's creation we reflect these qualities [of omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence].”

    “knowing that good is always present and cannot help but be expressed in our lives.”

    “every one of us is embraced and held by divine Love”

It would seem from the above quotes that the authors had never heard of the Fall. They probably also take pity on Paul who declared that even he did the things he didn't want to do as well as not doing the things he wanted to do. Also, it appears that Christ really didn't need to go to the cross on mankind's behalf after all since we are all already perfect, if only we had the correct gnosis to comprehend that truth.

Two theological terms notably missing from this issue of the Sentinel are “sin” and “repentance.” But that is completely understandably since according to their teachings sin is not a reality; it is only an error of thinking. And how can one repent of doing something that doesn't exist in the first place?

The only real departure from most of the early Gnostic heresies appears to be that the Christian Scientists are not elitist in their beliefs. Whereas the the Gnostics reserved the realization of the Truth to a chosen few, the Christian Scientists feel that it is readily available to everyone who will listen. On the other hand, their view that everyone reflects God's qualities such as omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence comes dangerously close to reflecting instead Satan's promise to Adam and Even that they could become like God. But a full-blown belief in that original heresy is still reserved for the Church of Latter-Day Saints.

As one who is both a Christian and a scientist, I find that Christian Scientists abuse both terms at the same time.