Years Ago in the advertising/marketing business, when the agencies I worked for pitched new accounts, we were charged with discovering the points of difference between our potential client's product and similar ones. Our advertising and marketing plans would highlight those differences, so customers could see why the product we proposed was a better choice. This approach is useful to the study and practice of Christian Science. As with any science, Christian Science must be practiced in accord with its Principle and rules, so to understand these helps one cut to the chase.
Today with a broad array of what appear to be "alternatives," Christian Science often gets confused or combined with other religions, ideologies, philosophies, and alternative medicines. But when one does mix this Science with other beliefs, the result is no longer effective. While certain aspects of Christian Science might seem or actually be similar to others, it actually departs from various schools of thought in distinct ways.
A hundred and forty years ago, Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, combed through the Bible, principally the New Testament, to better understand the life and works of Christ Jesus and the early prophets. From what she gleaned, she characterized two elements as essential to the effective practice or Christian Science. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, she observed that Jesus "best understood the nothingness of material life and intelligence and the mighty actuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or Christian Science, which armed him with Love" (p. 52).
