Christian Science is not theosophy; this Science of Christ has its source in God, not in eastern philosophy. The two contrast fundamentally and sharply. Divine Science explains God to be one infinite, ever-present, and distinct Spirit; it reveals Christ as the eternal idea of sonship, man's true and pure selfhood; it enables us to prove, step by step through spiritual growth, man's flawless, permanent identity as God's perfect image.
When a theological or philosophical teaching conflicts with such deeply Christian and profoundly scientific truths of God and man, it needs to be clearly distinguished from, not confused with, Christian Science. One very significant point of contest is on the question of man's permanent, distinct, individual identity.
Christ Jesus' life, his teachings and actions, pointed to an elementary truism: God sets the individual free. God does not absorb us. He absolves us. He liberates us from every kind of discord mortality offers. He preserves intact our spiritual individuality. Writing to a clergyman, Mrs. Eddy puts on record a major distinction between Christian Science and Buddhism. She explains, "In Science, we learn that man is not absorbed in the divine nature, but is absolved by it." The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 1 19.
