Examining Christian Science: History, Heresy, and Healing | 2 Peter 3:1-7
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Description text g Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
2 Peter 3:1-7
Peter reminds believers that God’s Word is the foundation of His creative act, the guarantee of future judgment, and the truth that false teachers willingly ignore. Sadly, many reject this authority. Among the most deceptive of these modern movements is Christian Science, which rose in the late 1800s with a false gospel of “mind healing” and the denial of sin, suffering, and salvation.
Christian Science’s Historical Roots
Christian Science is a curious religious movement that began in the late nineteenth century, a time when the Spirit of God was moving mightily in revivals through men like Charles Spurgeon, D. L. Moody, G. Campbell Morgan, and Phillips Brooks. Yet while these faithful preachers boldly proclaimed Scripture, others were creating counterfeit religions. The latter half of the 1800s produced Joseph Smith (Mormonism), Charles Taze Russell (Jehovah’s Witnesses), and Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science.
Mary Baker Eddy was deeply influenced by Phineas Quimby, a mental healer who popularized the phrase “the science of the Christ.” His “New Thought” philosophy taught that the material world and sickness are illusions that can be conquered through right thinking. This concept birthed Christian Science, a movement that spiritualizes all biblical truth, denies the deity of Jesus Christ, and redefines sin, sickness, and salvation.
Basic Doctrine and False Foundations
Christian Science rejects the physical world and views all suffering as illusion. Adherents are told to deny their senses—sight, touch, and hearing—because pain and disease are “errors of the mind.” A Christian Science couple once ignored their infant’s cries for twelve days, believing illness was unreal. Such tragic results reveal the spiritual blindness of this movement.
Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) claimed that reading Matthew 9:2 healed her from a near-death fall in 1866. Yet her own physician, Dr. Alvin Cushing, contradicted her story. In 1879, she established The Church of Christ Scientist in Massachusetts and produced her primary textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures—largely plagiarized from Quimby’s writings. As with all cults, Eddy’s book replaced the Bible as the supreme authority.
Major Errors of Christian Science
1. Scripture Replaced by Private Revelation
Eddy declared that she had discovered divine laws of life and love, calling her teachings God’s “final revelation.” This contradicts Revelation 22:18, which warns against adding to God’s Word.
2. A False View of God
Christian Science defines God as an impersonal “divine mind” or “principle.” Yet Isaiah 44:24 reveals a personal Creator distinct from His creation.
3. A False Christ
Eddy claimed Jesus was human but “Christ” was divine truth—two separate entities. Scripture teaches that “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9).
4. Denial of Sin and Suffering
Eddy called sin and disease “illusions,” writing, “Evil is but an illusion and has no real basis.” Yet Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23 affirm sin’s deadly reality and the need for a Savior.
5. Denial of Salvation Through Christ Alone
Eddy wrote, “The material blood of Jesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from sin… than when it was flowing in His veins.” This directly rejects Acts 4:12 and John 14:6, which proclaim salvation only through Jesus Christ.
Areas Where Christian Science Conflicts with Christianity
1. Christian Science Elevates Mary Baker Eddy Above Scripture
Mary Baker Eddy’s followers regard her writings as divinely inspired and final. She claimed that “the revelation of Truth” came to her by divine power. Yet the Bible declares, “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89).
2. Christian Science Reduces God to an Impersonal Idea
Eddy described God as “a divine whole and all, an all-pervading intelligence and love, a divine, infinite principle.” The God of Scripture, however, is infinite and personal (Isaiah 45:20–25).
3. Christian Science Denies the Deity of Jesus Christ
Eddy wrote, “Jesus Christ is not God… Jesus is the human man, and Christ is the divine idea.” This is a complete rejection of John 1:1 and John 20:28, which proclaim Jesus as Lord and God.
4. Christian Science Denies Evil, Sin, and Sickness
Christian Science asserts that suffering is imaginary. But Scripture teaches that Jesus came because of sin, not to erase belief in it. Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23 confirm sin’s reality and the consequences of separation from God.
5. Christian Science Denies the Need for Salvation Through Christ Alone
By dismissing the atonement and redefining heaven and hell as mental states, Christian Science eliminates the gospel itself. Yet John 14:6 clearly states, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Decline and Legacy
At Mary Baker Eddy’s death in 1910, Christian Science claimed nearly one million followers. Today, that number has fallen below 100,000 worldwide, largely due to child neglect cases and the movement’s refusal of medical care. Ironically, Eddy herself resorted to morphine and doctors near the end of her life, contradicting her own doctrine. Though the Christian Science Monitor remains primarily digital, its parent movement continues to decline.
The Biblical Response
Christian Science perfectly fulfills Peter’s warning of scoffers who twist God’s truth. It offers a false “healing” without the true Healer. Real freedom and forgiveness are found only in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again to conquer sin and death. As followers of Christ, we must hold fast to God’s unchanging Word and lovingly share the truth with those deceived by error. Only the cross of Christ brings genuine spiritual healing.
Small Group Study Questions
What are some key traits that all false religions and cults hold in common?
Why does Christian Science reject vitamins, drugs, immunizations, or any type of medical help? What Scriptural truths would you share to combat this position?
What are some key doctrinal positions held by Christian Science that are clearly unbiblical? What does the Bible actually teach about each one of these areas?
How did Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, contradict her own teachings on the prohibition of using medical help?
How does Christian Science see Jesus Christ?
What does Christian Science teach about salvation? Why is this view unbiblical?
