From time to time the effort has been made to connect the teachings of Christian Science with spiritualism. A thoughtful study of the teachings of Christian Science leads us to the logical conclusion that spiritualism and its manifestations have no scientific foundation. Based on reason and pure spiritual inspiration, Christian Science contains no element of mysticism or the supernatural. Mary Baker Eddy recognized this attempt to misrepresent her discovery, and in her writings she has much to say which completely distinguishes Christian Science from any of the entertained beliefs of spiritualism and of ancient or modern necromancy, which according to dictionary definition implies the study or art of communication with the spirits of the dead.
Necromancy is an ancient practice in human history. In both the Old and the New Testament are numerous references to spiritualism, notably the account of King Saul's visit to the witch of Endor, a woman whom we today would call a medium or clairvoyant. It may be noted that the Scriptures specifically warned the children of Israel against the practice of spiritualism. The prophet Isaiah wrote (8:19, 20): "When they shall say unto you. Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." This ancient practice, however, has never ceased. Many modern newspapers carry the advertisements of spiritualists, mediums, and clairvoyants, an indication that these beliefs still command interest and are widely accepted.
Christian Science rejects spiritualistic concepts. People generally have been educated to believe that the human being has a soul or spirit and that this soul or spirit inhabits a mortal body, which it leaves at death. Exposing this fallacy, Mrs. Eddy writes in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 478): "What evidence of Soul or of immortality have you within mortality? Even according to the teachings of natural science, man has never beheld Spirit or Soul leaving a body or entering it. What basis is there for the theory of indwelling spirit, except the claim of mortal belief? What would be thought of the declaration that a house was inhabited, and by a certain class of persons, when no such persons were ever seen to go into the house or to come out of it, nor were they even visible through the windows? Who can see a soul in the body?"
