A brief glimpse at Christian Science

I was sitting in Starbucks on Victoria and State Street last night, and on my way there, I passed by the Christian Science Reading Room on the corner. I grabbed a couple free articles they have on the wall, and strolled into Starbucks to examine them. I've noticed that if any group has a tendency to veer off course, doctrinally, it is usually in the way of the person of Jesus Christ, or the authority of Scripture. Everyone seems to have the same interpretation of "God" (for example, Russian President Putin claimed to be a believer his recent headliner in Time Magazine), but do they have the same interpretation of Jesus, who Christians hold to be God in the flesh? Many people, even non-believers, will have something good to say about the Bible, but do they believe it to be entirely true and sufficient?

Here is an excerpt from one of the articles, entitled Some Essentials For Being A Christian Science Practitioner:

"...as the first tenet of Christian Science states, '...we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal life.'"

Ok, good! It seems that Christian Scientists and Christians have the same view of God's Word...right? Let's read the next paragraph:

"Another essential is a love for Science and Health with a Key to the Scriptures and for it's author, Mary Baker Eddy....She wrote: 'I should blush to write of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" as I have, were it of human origin, and were I, apart from God, its author.'" [1]

Uh oh.
You could have gone through this entire magazine and gotten a basic perception that Christian Science looks to be pretty right on, because for the most part, a lot of what they teach on the surface of the magazine is similar to what we teach. Except for that one little part where they just claimed that there is something ELSE essential for living other than God's Word...or where they claim that Mary Eddy Baker's book is authored by God.

The Word of God is not sufficient? Doesn't 1 Timothy 3:16,17 teach us that "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work?"
So if the Word of God is adequate for EVERY good work that we need to accomplish in this life, then what do we need Mary Eddy Baker's book for? We don't. Of course, she claims that it's inspired by God, but is it?
Last time I checked, we were not supposed to add words to God's words as Mary Eddy Baker has.
Deuteronomy 4:2 states that "You shall not add to the word which I [God] am commanding you."
In chapter 12:32 He reiterates that "you shall not add to nor take away from it [His words]."
In Proverbs 30:6 we are told not to "add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar."
God seemed to know that there would be the temptation to add words, because He waited until the one of the last verses in the very last chapter of the last book of the Bible, where in Revelation 22:18, 19 He states, "if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book."

That's interesting that God says he'll add plagues to those who add to His words, because in another paragraph of this article, it is told that to believe that sickness is real, is to believe an error, which Mrs. Eddy labels "animal magnetism." [2]
She must have skipped over that verse in her newly revised version.

The inerrant and sufficient Word of God states that there exists "Satan, who deceives the whole world" (Rev 12:9) This is contrary to Christian Science that teaches God as the "only real power that exists." Jesus has conquered death on the cross, and we should, as Christians be living in that realization, but the Bible also clearly teaches that we have a common enemy who is the "god of this world" [2cor4:4] who seeks to deceive.

Don't let Christian Science deceive you.


1. Christian Science Sentinel | Oct 23, 2006, pg 21.
2. Christian Science Sentinel | Oct 23, 2006, pg 28.

The Legitimacy of New Testament Canon

During my year and a half working at an art institute, I was often faced with direct accusation against my Christianity, and most of them were founded on supposed problems with the Bible. We as evangelical Christians hold the Bible in high regard, and it is important for us to know for ourselves why Scripture holds true. It is not simply literature for the soul, but it is the very written Word of God, living and active in its content. One of the things that is often assaulted is the canonicity of Scripture, or the collection of chosen books.

Canon: noun
1. A general law, rule, principle, or criterion by which something is judged.
2. A collection or list of sacred books accepted as genuine: the formation of the biblical canon.

Canon comes from the Greek word for reed, which was used as a measuring rod, and came to mean “standard.”

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The need for canonicity was significant in the face of false teachings facing the early church by heretics such as Marcion in A.D. 140, and further attempts to squeeze in spurious writings in some Eastern churches. In addition, an edict of Diocletian (A.D. 303) called for the destruction of the sacred books of the Christians. Christians needed to know which books were worth dying for.

It is of utmost importance to regard canon as a tool ordained by God, and used by the church. We did not invent it, but rather, it has been there all along. We do not dictate the canon of scripture, it instructs us. We handle it.

Right now, we are looking at New Testament canon. As stated earlier, there was developing a dire need to separate the God-ordained Scripture from the imposters. The questions arise, “How was it determined which authors were legit?” “How do we know so-and-so writer was authoring Scripture but this one was not?”

The ultimate (and simple) answer lies in Jesus Christ. Because we know that Jesus is God, we know that what He says is truth. It was Jesus Himself that decided on the writers of the New Testament (the Bible is after all, a revelation of Him), and He gave us guidelines for determining the legitimacy of the authors:
-First of all, Jesus made it clear that the New Testament would only be authored by his chosen apostles, and that they would be equipped by the power of the Holy Spirit to do so. He did this when He instructed them saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”
-He gave the apostles His stamp of approval when He told them “It is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you,” and that the “Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
-We know what the requirements are for being an apostle, because Jesus gives an examination by stating that it was those who walked with Him, and were witnesses to the things that He did, including especially the resurrection. Peter (Jesus’ right-hand man) put forth specific requirements, when Joseph and Matthias were considered for apostleship. They were to be men that had accompanied the twelve from Jesus’ baptism by John to when He was taken up from them. And they HAD to be witnesses to His resurrection. This was of utmost importance. We can see how imperative this was, as the resurrection of a dead man was a strong case to make to unbelievers, and needed to be attested to. As atheist Carl Sagan would declare, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

Paul who saw the risen Lord, is one of these apostles, and here he also affirms the canonicity of the New Testament. He points out that the revelation and mystery of Christ, has been revealed to His holy apostles (of which Paul is one) and prophets in the Spirit. He also tells us that while Christ is the cornerstone of the church, it was the apostles that the church was built on. We can also see evidence of the Holy Spirit upon this, as people were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching.
I have heard leaders and teachers say that they are apostles of God, but this is contrary to Scripture. The Word of God tells us that He gave some as apostles, but not all are apostles. It is impossible for any today to become apostles, given the requirements of the first chapter of Acts. These are false apostles.

The Apocrypha is a collection of 14 books of Jewish history and tradition that the Roman Catholic church decided to include into their version of the Bible at the Council of Trent in 1545. Why don’t Christians consider it to be canon? Simple…
-The Jews never even considered it to be Scripture, and never included it in their bible
-The acceptance it did enjoy was only local and temporary
-No major church council included it Scripture
-It contains errors
-Neither Jesus nor the New Testament quoted it even thought they quoted the Old Testament hundreds of times.
-The Christian churches that eventually accepted it, did not until many centuries later.
-Many of the Apocryphal writings were written after the end of the first century, including the Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (A.D. 108), the Didache (A.D. 100-120), the seven Epistles of Ignatius (A.D. 110), the Second Epistle of Clement (A.D. 120-140), the Shepherd of Hermas (A.D. 115-140), the Apocalypse of Peter (A.D. 150), and the Epistle of the Laodiceans (4th century?).

The church preserved the whole New Testament
Luke refers to possibly Matthew and Mark.
Paul quotes the Gospel of Luke.
Peter refers to a collection of Paul’s letters.
Jude had access to Peter’s second letter.
John’s book of Revelation was circulated throughout Asia Minor.

The church fathers of the second to fourth century made some 36,289 citations from the New Testament, including every verse except for eleven of them!

Summary
And so we know that Jesus Christ limited the New Testament writings to A.D. 50 – 90 by the choosing of His apostles who walked with him during His ministry, and were all witnesses to His death and resurrection. New Testament writings HAD to have come from the first century, and by those with divine credentials. These were the disciples, including Paul.

Zeitgeist

Zeitgeist means “The spirit of the age,” and is a recent documentary that has had many people in doubt of their faith in Jesus Christ. It makes claims that Christianity is wrapped up in ancient mythology whose origin far precedes that of the account of Jesus. Many similarities are brought up and compared between the details of Jesus’ life and that of a plethora of mythological gods. The emphasis of the film attempts to tie Jesus character as no more than just a role in the zodiac, and they even go so far as to question whether he really existed.

It is a 2 hour long movie, and the past 2/3rds of it have to do with government propaganda, which is out of the scope of this blog. I have watched the movie, and have done some research into most of the claims contained within. I started with ancient Egyptian mythology, and their god, Horus. The first claim of the movie is that the story of Jesus Christ was similar to that of the Egyptian sun god, Horus, who likewise:

-Was born on December 25th,
-Was born of a virgin,
-His birth foretold by a star in the east,
-Was visited by three kings,
-Began teaching at the age of 12,
-Was baptized into ministry at the age of 30,
-Had 12 disciples,
-Was betrayed and crucified,
-Was resurrected.
-His nickname was the “Lamb of God.”

They also claim that the history of the sun god, Horus, was dated before that of the birth of Jesus Christ. The implication being that Christianity is unoriginal, and was plagiarized from other more ancient religions.
Many people have watched this movie without giving any thought to its validity or credibility (Just like they did with Da Vinci Code). But if you look into it, you will find that once again, deception cannot hold its own weight against the truth of the Word of God.

I will give you a brief example of what I have found, and then I will give you a few incredibile resources with which to dig deeper, should you have any questions about the movie.

First of all, you can scratch off several of these claims immediately, due to bad research and credibility on their part.
-There is no mention of December 25th as being the birthplace of Jesus in the Bible.
-There is no mention whatsoever of the number of men that came to visit Jesus, and there was certainly no mention of three. In addition, they were not kings, but magi (wise men specializing in astrology, astronomy, and natural science- Matthew 2:1).

Secondly, a lot of these claims are not backed up by a credible source. You would think these claims would be heavily documented, but even if you were to conduct a Google search on Horus, or “Egyptian Mythology,” you would have a difficult time finding any evidence for most of the claims made concerning his similarity with Jesus. Most of the sites that do have agendas directly related to the movie and cause of Zeitgeist.

WHAT WE DO KNOW FOR CERTAIN:
-Jesus never disappeared before coming back on the scene to minister, he worked humbly as a carpenter, and studied the scriptures (Luke 2:49). Further more, there is no evidence stating that Horus was baptized or taught in a temple.
-The only outside research I could find on Horus’ 12 disciples falls far short of Zeitgeist claim. There is only record of four disciples.
-Horus was never crucified. There is research done on kingdavid8.com by a man who found the unofficial story of Horus’ death in which “he dies and is cast in pieces into the water, then later fished out by a crocodile at Isis’ request. This unofficial story is the only one in which he dies at all.”
kingdavid8.com
-None of these titles that they claim for Horus:
"Way, the Truth, the Light," "Messiah," "God’s Anointed Son," "Son of Man," "Good Shepherd," "Lamb of God," "Word made flesh," and "Word of Truth" are found in Egyptian mythology.
-And lastly, he was not born of a virgin as the movie claims.
Think about this…his mom (Isis) was married to his dad (Osiris). As mythology will tell you, Osiris was killed and his body dismembered. Isis then had to put his body back together in order to have intercourse with it. Isis was not a virgin. Mary was, by the power of the Holy Spirit of the one true God.

Do you see the deception? This is simply one small story in a web of intricately twisted lies. The problem: a tremendous lack of credibility, and bad research….just like Da Vinci Code. You can see the ease with which a simple individual after God’s heart can unwind the lies. If there are further questions, if you have seen the movie, or if you know someone who has, be confident in God’s sovereignty and ability to protect His Word, and search the Scriptures (and history) to find the truth (2 Tim 2:15). BUT PLEASE- At least research these claims, before you consider them truth.

I have one thing to add. Even if the claims were absolutely true…what is the difference between Horus and Jesus that makes His claims credible? Jesus was an actual historical figure who died and rose from the dead, backed up by a ridiculous amount of evidence and eye witness reports. Horus is a painting on a wall.

Below are some excellent resources for further examination.

Online:
Charlie H. Campbell: Zeitgeist
Ronald Nash
Kingdavid8.com

Books:
The Case for the Real Jesus – Lee Strobel.
The Gospel and the Greeks –Ronald Nash