“Christian Scientists seem to me to be altogether too simple. Granted that all the evils are illusions, still the existence of that illusion would be a real evil and presumably a real evil permitted by God. That brings us back to exactly the same point as we began from. We have gained nothing by the theory. We are still faced with a great mystery, not explained, but coloured, transmuted, all through the Cross. Faith, not wild over-simplifications, is what will help, don’t you think?” – C.S. Lewis
I was a Christian Scientist for years. It seemed they did a better job accounting for the problem of evil than most, but only when it comes from within.
Interesting observation. Thanks for sharing.
Former Christian Scientist here. I had the exact same criticism. Whenever I would bring it up, people would just reiterate that it’s an illusion, totally missing the antithesis.
I also grew up in CS and had that same conversation so many times. So grateful to have had my eyes opened to the true Gospel! The Fellowship of Former Christian Scientists is a great resource: https://ffcsministry.org/
A related problem is that if you posit that the world doesn’t exist, then you get to assert
whatever you want to be true. Metaphysicians besides Christian Scientists have tried to infer
what the world must be like from logical principles (but no sensory evidence) with usually
not-so-good results.
Mathematicians have found some interesting logical necessities like the sporadic groups, but
that’s not enough for a religion. Try to figure out ethics or the nature of God from pure logic
and you won’t get far.
SIMPLICITY THAT IS IN CHRIST
David Wilkerson
July 16, 2015
“I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity [the utter exclusiveness] that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).
Paul warns us not to be corrupted away from “the simplicity that is in Christ.” The Greek word for simplicity in this verse means singleness, exclusiveness. In other words, “Christ is not a complex entity. The truth about Him is very simple: Jesus is God. He is divine, born of a virgin, crucified and raised from the dead. But I’m afraid you’re being corrupted away from this single, exclusive truth.”
what’s beautiful about Christian Science is that it is simple, which to me means, uncomplicated. healing a difficult problem can be quite a challenge and may take time, yet healing itself is very simple. it’s the human mind that complicates things. when we let go of the human mind and have that Mind which was also in Christ Jesus, the truth, the healing solution, is simple. i’m not trying to convince anyone else to live this way, just sharing my own peace and joy about living a Christian Science life and the simplicity in Christ
https://worldchallenge.org/content/simplicity-christ
Thanks for your comment but from my study of Christian Science, it is far from simple.
Christian Science is simple from an absolute point of view, God is perfect, LOVE and the only creator. Where is this all-loving perfect creator a mechanism for creating or even knowing evil? So resoning from perfect cause to perfect effect – evil must be an illusion – a mistake. For example, the “god of mathmatics” did not create or allow 2+2=5. It is the mistake of matematician who thereby suffers from his mistake until corrected. Once corrected the mathematician sees that not only does 2+2=4 – it always equaled 4. This is apriori reasoning from perfect cause to perfect effect.
It is when you reson from the material visable effect back to the cause (apostori reasoning) where it becomes complex – you say “I see 2+2=5. It is written on this paper and I believe it, therefore God must create it and know its there.” This reasoning will always spin you around and never satisfy. It makes you believe in a God of wrath, a God who is not your friend, a God who needs to test you. You keep thinking “I am experiencing this so it must be real and God must allow it and know it.”
To those who in this thread never got the answer from Christian Scientists other than “its just an illusion” – here is the answer – reasoning from perfect cause – you must have perfect effect. Reasoning from imperect effect to cause – you will always have imperfect cause.
And as a CS you are correct! it is way more complicated, because the Universe is complicated to understand. CS helps to read the bible is a key to the Bible and many forget that. But it would be interesting to understand more on CS Lewis understanding. CS has opened many doors to many more beliefs and currents. Wouldn’t you agree?