STUDENTS of Christian Science are often asked to explain the difference between its teachings and those of other churches. It is of course assumed that there is a vital difference, for otherwise those who have accepted Christian Science would remain in their former denominations. Some have indeed essayed to do this, and occasionally found their coreligionists quite tolerant of their new-found faith in the divine power to heal, though somewhat incredulous as to the permanence of the cure which these people had found in Christian Science. Those who remained among their old friends were often obliged to listen to discussions of disease and its asserted laws, and in time they came to see that this was inconsistent with complete loyalty to the teachings of Christ Jesus as understood in Christian Science.
More than this, in some instances there came to these people tests of their faith in God and their understanding of spiritual law, possibly with attacks of illness in their immediate families. Then, instead of the mental and moral support which they naturally expected from their old friends who claimed to worship the same God, they were often bitterly condemned, and sometimes threatened with the civil law because they failed to call a doctor. It is hardly necessary to add that in such ways many were actually driven from the church of their fathers, and led to seek shelter in the Christian Science church, where the all-power and ever-presence of divine Love are given preeminence over all else. At the Sunday service, for which they were prepared by the daily and diligent study of the Lesson-Sermon, they were strengthened and gladdened for all the problems of the week. Then with the Wednesday evening experience meeting came new inspiration to let their light so shine that all who suffer might be led to the Father, who not only "forgiveth all thine iniquities," but "healeth all thy diseases" as well.
At every step of the way the one who accepts Christian Science learns how great is the difference between the beliefs of his old church and the teachings of Christian Science. He may not be able to explain to others what constitutes this difference,—indeed this knowledge comes slowly to the student himself in many cases, but as he studies the text-book of Christian Science, the treasures of the Bible are opened up to him as fast as he is ready to accept them, though sometimes this readiness comes only after a mighty struggle to throw off the enslaving fetters of former beliefs and the habits attached thereto. In many cases the beginner in Christian Science shrinks from the mental effort demanded in order to deal fearlessly with the mortal error which it describes as animal magnetism. He may even be tempted to say that none of the other churches deal with this belief at all, meaning of course that they do not "expose evil's hidden mental ways of accomplishing iniquity" (Science and Health, p. 571). As he advances, however, he finds that this explains the widespread failure to overcome sickness and sin in accordance with God's law.
