TWO Christian Scientists were one day talking of their religion when one of them referred to it as a "Protestant denomination." Quickly the other replied, "You know, Christian Science really isn't just a 'Protestant denomination'; it is pure Protestantism of the highest order, for it protests against everything that is unlike God."
Impressed by this statement, the younger Scientist began to give it serious thought and study. From the dictionary she learned that the word "protest" derives from the Latin pro, "before," plus testari, "to be a witness." Immediately there came to her thought the statement from Isaiah (43:10), "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen." The word "protest" as used today is defined as meaning first "to assert, affirm, . . . aver," and secondly "to make a protest against."
The student recalled that the name "Protestant" had early been applied to a courageous group of Christians who protested against certain doctrines and forms of organized religion. But it began to unfold to her that the patriarchs and prophets of old had been, in a certain sense, among the staunchest of Protestants. Moses, Isaiah. Jeremiah, Hosea, and the others continually lifted their voices against idolatry, greed, and wickedness, affirming the power, presence, and allness of the one God and exhorting their people to acknowledge and obey Him. She saw, too, that Christ Jesus, our Way-shower, protested against creed, ritual, and hypocrisy, while affirming and proving the truth that God is the loving, universal Father, who gives only good to His children.
