February 11, 2007

What They Believe: Christian Science

1 Peter 1:17-25

Opening Words: In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Theology is practical: especially now...If you do not learn theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones.” Perhaps, that quote is for our age? Our theology is extremely poor. The Biblical standard has been replaced by personal opinions and ideas. The end result is we live in a time of spiritual impotency. People who look sincere can tell us anything and we believe it. Why? Because, we just don’t know any better. We don’t even know what we believe. I believe that is why cults are growing in our area and I have grown tired of it. The time has come to do something before one more soul is lost. But, what can be done?

We are in the middle of a sermon series I have called What They Believe. We are looking at five different cults that exist with the Mahoning Valley. To date we have looked at the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Seventh-Day Adventist and the Baha’i faith. Next week we look at the Mormons. Today, we look at the Christian Scientists. Do you know anyone who is a Christian Scientist? Some are nice and sincere. They have some admirable treats. Their problem is not their behavior. Their problem is their theology. It is flawed. This morning’s scripture lesson exposes their theological imperfection. Let us look at I Corinthians 15:1-8.

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I Peter 1:17- 25 ¹⁷Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. ¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

²²Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. ²³For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴For,
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
²⁵but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.

I begin with this old preaching story originally told by Paul Lee Tan. He said that when A.J. Gordon was pastor of a church in Boston, he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, "Son, where did you get those birds?" The boy replied, "I trapped them out in the field." "What are you going to do with them?" "I'm going to play with them, and then I guess I'll just feed them to an old cat we have at home." When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad exclaimed, "Mister, you don't want them, they're just little old wild birds and can't sing very well." Gordon replied, "I'll give you $20 for the cage and the birds." "Okay, it's a deal, but you're making a bad bargain." The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling with his money. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar into the blue. The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ's coming to seek and to save the lost -- paying for them their freedom with His own precious blood.

I love that story because the theology is clear and accurate. You and I were held captive to sin, but Christ has purchased our pardon and set us free. Our Christian theology tells us we are redeemed. Our Christian theology tells us that Jesus will stand by our side on judgment day. Our Christian theology tells us Jesus stands by our side when life in this world is hard. If you think that is a good thing say, “Amen!” That is one of the things that separate us from the Christian Scientists. They have no need of a redeemer because they see sickness, sin, evil and death as nothing more then an illusion.

Does anyone here know the name Mary Baker Eddy? If you were a Christian Scientist Church you would know her name and her story. She was born in Bow, New Hampshire in 1821. Her parents, Mark and Abigail Baker, were members of the local Congregationalist church which taught the doctrine of predestination. Young Mary struggled with this teaching. How could a loving God doom the people in her life that she loved? In time, she rejected predestination and began a great spiritual quest.

In 1866 at the age of 45 her life changed forever. She had a tragic fall. As she hung near death God revealed to her something new, something that the rest of the world had missed. For it was in that broken state she discovered Jesus’ healing methods. She used those methods on herself and she recovered. She never forgot that experience. In 1870 she began public teachings of her healing methods. In 1879 she founded a church based in these healing methods and in 1881 she established the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. In 1895 her church published their first edition of the Christian Science Monitor. That publication was renamed later Health and Science, the defining text of their movement. .From the very beginning Mary Bakers Eddy critics have been numerous but the movement continued.

Do you know any Christian Scientists? It is estimated that there are more then 450,000 Christian Scientists in the world today. The closest one to this building is at 1515 South Meridian Road, two miles from were we are now. You may want to stop in for a visit. They are nice people. They are sincere people. They are well read. I have no problem with their behavior. It is their theology that disturbs me.

So what do they believe? I do not claim to be an expert. I took a crash course this week in their history and theology. I learned just enough to be dangerous. However, what I learned disturbed me. Mary Baker Eddy not only rejected the doctrine of predestination. She rejected many teachings of the church and has led countless people astray. Let me just talk about four of their beliefs.

1. Christian Scientists believe Mary Baker Eddy discovered Jesus’ healing method. According to Christian Scientists Mary Baker Eddy began to have visions or revelations when she was injured in 1866. In time she would write about those revelations. Those writings on healing sounded like the work of a man named Phineas Quimby, a leading metaphysical healer of her time. She met him in 1862, four years before her accident. She admitted he had a great influence on her life. She believed she had uncovered Jesus’ healing method. That is what they believe.

What do we believe? We believe the ultimate source of all healing is God. That takes many forms. Sometimes the healing is medical. Sometimes the healing is diet. Sometime the healing is better lifestyle. Sometime the healing is miraculous. We believe the ultimate healing is to be saved spiritually. The Greek word in the New Testament for “saved” is the same word for “heal.” The source of all healing is God. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

2. Christian Scientists hold the Health and Science as their primary text. Mary Baker Eddy claimed her final authority came from the Bible but that really wasn’t true. In practice, she claimed her revelations were higher and “better” then the Bible. As a matter of fact, when the Bible contradicted her teachings she ruled her visions superior. The publication called Health and Science is based on her revelations. It is the defining text of their movement. That is what they believe.

What do we believe? We believe the Bible is our ultimate authority. Timothy Dwight said, “The Bible is a window in this prison-world, through which we may look into eternity.” John Wesley, the founder of Methodism described himself as a man of one book, the Bible. The only publication we need is the Bible. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

3. Christian Scientists believe sickness, sin, evil and death are only an illusion. To be perfectly honest with you I really don’t understand this point. This is as close as I can get. They say we are living in the middle of a nightmare. Around us there is sickness, sin, evil and death. We exist within the nightmare but it is not reality. It is their desire to wake up from this nightmare and experience the true reality of divine peace. That is what they believe.

What do we believe? We believe sickness, sin evil and death are part of this world. I wish they were only an illusion but they are real. It is through these hardships that our relationship with Jesus is forged. We need Jesus to help us through the sickness, sin and evil. We need Jesus to help us defeat death, itself. If you have ever needed Jesus in your life say, “Amen!”

4. Christian Scientists do not believe Jesus was the Christ. They believe in the historical Jesus. They believe there was a man by the name of Jesus, who lived two thousand years ago in the Middle East. That is not the problem. The problem is they do not believe Jesus was the Christ. Jesus and the Christ are separate. The Christian Science view of the person of Christ is wholly unbiblical. To them the Christ is the ideal truth that comes to heal sickness and defeat sin through Christian Science teachings. The historical Jesus came closer to anyone making this ideal, close but no cigar. Jesus was not the Christ. He was just a good man. That is what they believe.

So what is my Biblical response to the Christian Scientists? My Biblical response comes from First Peter, verses seventeen through twenty-five. The author of these words is the former disciple, now apostle, Peter. The letter was written in the early 60’s and covers a wide variety of topics. The verses we heard remind us that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. His death was part of the divine plan from the very beginning. Jesus was God, incarnate. He never committed a single sin so he was the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. Our only response, according to Peter, to his sacrificial death is to live holy lives that are pleasing to God. He encourages us to live holy lives because that will not be easy because the world is filled with ugliness. Peter was one of the leaders of the early church. His faith was the foundation of the church. He was truly a saint but he would have made a horrible Christian Scientist. The reason is simple. They don’t see Jesus as a redeemer. They only see Jesus as a good man. They separate the historical Jesus from the title of Christ. We see the two as one. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

As I prepared this message this morning I was sensitive to the ugliness of this world. Our world is not always a pretty place. My eyes saw some painful things this week. I saw good people facing surgery. I saw good people sitting in nursing homes and hospitals, admitting to me they were ready to die. I saw people telling me about diseased loved ones. I heard about people whose medical procedures didn’t work. The pain is still present. Their hope is fading. Life is hard. Did you watch the news this week? Did you read the paper this week? The news was filled with hatred, people being murdered and young children being placed in harms way. By Thursday night I had had enough. Kathy and I went out to eat and we sat in silence. Do you know what I wished? I wished I was a Christian Scientists. I wished all the sickness, sin, evil, illness, and death was nothing more then an illusion. The problem is it is not an illusion. Those things are based in reality. It is the world in which we live and it is not always pretty. Sometimes it is hard. I am thankful I am not a Christian Scientist because I need Jesus Christ to stand by my side and help me when life is not easy. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

I end by telling you two stories about the same person. This is story number one. In approximately 1880 a family picnic at an English estate nearly turned to tragedy when one of the children strayed into deep water. The gardener heard the cries for help, plunged in, and rescued the drowning child. That youngster's name was Winston Churchill. His grateful parents asked the gardener what they could do to reward him. He hesitated, and then said, "I wish my son could go to college someday and become a doctor." "We'll see to it," Churchill's parents promised.

This is story number two. Years later, while Winston Churchill was prime minister of England, he was stricken with pneumonia. The country's best physician was summoned. His name was Dr. Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered and developed penicillin. He was also the son of that gardener who had saved young Winston from drowning. Later, Churchill remarked, "Rarely has one man owed his life twice to the same person.”

I tell you those two stories for two reasons. First, I find Winston Churchill to be a truly amazing personality. Second, Winston Churchill’s story is much like our story. So to speak, we were dead in the water. We would have died without the brave loving actions of an outsider. In the case of Winston Churchill the brave loving outsider was a gardener. In our case the brave loving outsider was Jesus Christ, God incarnate. The Christian faith understands him to be our redeemer. He will stand by our side on judgment day and he will stand by our side when life is hard. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”