Charity to all

Charity to all? Love for all?  No matter what someone believes or practices?  Really?!? That is what the By-Law “Charity to All” in the Manual of The Mother Church (pp. 47–48) expects of Christian Scientists. Maybe it isn’t so surprising that Christian Science, based squarely on the teaching of Christ Jesus, would require us to have unconditional love for all humanity, even those who preach or practice beliefs not found in Jesus’ teaching. 

The By-Law reads: “Charity to All. While members of this Church do not believe in the doctrines of theosophy, hypnotism, or spiritualism, they cherish no enmity toward those who do believe in such doctrines, and will not harm them. But whenever God calls a member to bear testimony to Truth and to defend the Cause of Christ, he shall do it with love and without fear.”

This rule raises two questions for me. First, why did Mary Baker Eddy highlight these three belief systems—theosophy, hypnotism, and spiritualism—out of the many different belief systems that are known to humanity? And how does one charitably defend the Cause of Christ by bearing testimony to the Truth, without condemning or harming those who follow other systems? Through some research and much prayer, I’ve found insights that have helped me to see why this By-Law, and the answers to these two questions, are important today and can strengthen our healing work.

During the decades when Mrs. Eddy was discovering and founding Christian Science, spiritualism and hypnotism developed and reached their peak, while theosophy surged in the Western world with the founding of the Theosophical Society in New York in 1875. 

Robert Peel notes in his biography of Mrs. Eddy that the Theosophical Society was founded two weeks after the publication of Science and Health, and that this movement “was sometimes confounded with Christian Science. Dedicated to the occult, the theurgic, the ‘hidden’ lore of the East, [this belief system drew] on what Jung would later call the collective unconscious . . . ” rather than God (Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Trial, Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1971, p. 206). As an interesting aside, the English words spiritualism and hypnosis were coined during Eddy’s lifetime.

As Christian Science made its human debut in this era, it became associated with the other belief systems that were so popular in the latter half of the 19th century. That Eddy devoted a whole chapter to spiritualism in her textbook—and made clear her views on the topic by calling it “Christian Science versus Spiritualism”—indicates the importance she gave to distinguishing between the two. 

Similarly, hypnotism, or mesmerism as it was called after one of its founders, Anton Mesmer, is covered in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures under the chapter “Animal Magnetism Unmasked.” In that period, animal magnetism and mesmerism were often used interchangeably, and Eddy’s comments about that concept make clear her conviction that it is antagonistic to Christianity and Christian Science.

Still, Eddy and the early Christian Scientists needed to explain frequently the distinctive, primitive Christian origin of Christian Science so that the public perception of it was accurate. The question remains, however: Why have this By-Law in the Manual, which stands for perpetuity, essentially requesting that future generations do the same? 

Perhaps it was because Eddy recognized that Christian Science might always be lumped with other systems of that era and later dismissed as one of many 19th-century transcendental experiments. Or, if those systems continued into the future—as they have in this century—people might confuse Christian Science with their points of view. Today, there continues to be a need to correct many misconceptions about Christian Science, and to demonstrate its wholly divine, biblical, and Christian basis. This is likely to include explaining that Christian Science does not embrace the beliefs that are associated with theosophy, hypnotism, and spiritualism.

The belief in overt or covert mind control does not apply to Christian Science. 

Certain belief systems today are predicated upon the ability of one human mind to exercise mesmeric power over, or to otherwise influence, another. Christian Science is sometimes wrongly viewed as based on “mind over matter” or even a form of self-hypnotism. In actuality it teaches that there is only one Mind, the divine Mind, God. Being the great “I AM,” God has no need to influence or hypnotize because the divine Mind is All and is everywhere. Since all creation is the idea of that one Mind, and is at-one with it, no other consciousness exists to influence or be influenced.

Nor does Christian Science treatment consist of one human mind trying to help another, as benevolent as that may seem. Instead, the prayers of Christian Scientists rely wholly on divine Truth’s healing power and presence. Such Christian Science treatment is motivated by the power of divine Love. It is the result of the Christ in action, saving humanity. The spiritual and omnipotent nature of Christ, God’s message of love for man, enables Christian Science to far exceed what the human mind can accomplish. Christian Science exists to glorify God and to free humanity from the limited thinking or influence of mortal mind.

Highlighting the chasm between the effects of divine Mind and mortal mind, Eddy writes: “The Christian Scientist demonstrates that divine Mind heals, while the hypnotist dispossesses the patient of his individuality in order to control him. No person is benefited by yielding his mentality to any mental despotism or malpractice” (Science and Health, p. 375).

Exposing specific mistaken beliefs about Christian Science, and disproving them with the spiritual facts, is one way we fulfill this By-Law. Like an encounter I had with a friend who practiced “positive imaging” and commented that Christian Science healing was accomplished by that means. The simple truth of my response that it is the result of something different—an understanding of divine laws that bless—must have touched her. A few years later, under dire circumstances, she asked for my prayers and witnessed a healing based entirely on divine law.

This shows that we can “bear testimony to Truth and . . . defend the Cause of Christ,” while in no way harming or speaking ill of the individuals who adhere to these beliefs. 

Eddy set the standard when she wrote in Science and Health: “Those individuals, who adopt theosophy, spiritualism, or hypnotism, may possess natures above some others who eschew their false beliefs. Therefore my contest is not with the individual, but with the false system. I love mankind, and shall continue to labor and to endure” (p. 99).

One can “defend the Cause of Christ” against a belief in “mind control” and “mind over matter” by recognizing the existence of the only Mind, God, and proving, through healing, that Mind is always in control. Such an awareness silences the potentially adverse effects of mental manipulation, and blesses even those who may not yet fully grasp the unique, divine power of Christian Science.

Christian Science defines spirituality as inseparable from Spirit, God. 

Today, many so-called “spiritual practices” are largely devoid of an understanding of, or association with, Spirit, God. Yet, Eddy held: “All we correctly know of Spirit comes from God, divine Principle, and is learned through Christ and Christian Science” (Science and Health, p. 84). 

According to Christian Science, true spirituality has its source in the Divine, the outcome of the one Spirit, God, as revealed through Christ. St. Paul said in a letter to the Christians at Rome, “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you” (Romans 8:9). Spirit cannot be experienced in the flesh or by any human practices, but becomes more and more evident in our lives as we leave such things and embrace the pure divinity of God. As we discern our true, incorporeal nature as God’s innocent, sinless ideas, we discover more and more of our spiritual identity.

It is also a fact that Spirit can’t be experienced by seeking levels of higher “mental attainment” as some other belief systems advocate.
Spirituality is not a product of the human mind or of any materially oriented thought-system. Spirit, alone, is the source of spirituality. Spirit, God, is the ultimate Supreme Being, totally perfect, never going through states and stages trying to achieve perfection. As God’s spiritual idea, man—the generic term for the man and woman He created—is already the forever reflection of divine completion and perfection. Man simply and joyfully expresses this eternal unity with God, and to the degree that we understand this spiritual fact, we will feel its healing influence on our lives.

Christian Science treatment is not a form of mental manipulation or an application of some sort of secret knowledge. Rather, it is the redeeming presence of the Christ, revealing divine law, which is continuously governing the universe and is available to all. As stated by Eddy, “[Christian Science] is not a search after wisdom, it is wisdom” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 364).

Accordingly, true spirituality is inseparable from God and is the natural outcome of our communion with Christ, Truth. Understanding this strengthens our practice of Christian Science healing, and blesses all people, while harming no one.  

The departed cannot influence the living. 

Several belief systems claim that those who lived before us have influence over us through spirits, ghosts, dreams, or even shared DNA. But foundational to Christianity is the fact that there is only one God or power, which controls all of the universe, including those we believe are “here” or “hereafter.” 

To Spirit, there is only one state of being, not two. It is the forever now, where all ideas coexist in harmony, in the one Mind that created them. Consequently, every idea responds solely to the Mind that forms it. As Science and Health puts it, “Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else” (p. 481). Therefore no individual can influence another, regardless of what state or condition one believes that person is in. God’s true spiritual man, Eddy writes, “possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker” (Science and Health, p. 475).

Many years ago, it was rumored that Christian Scientists had a special phone installed in Mary Baker Eddy’s tomb so they could call her after her passing. That was untrue, as researchers have readily verified. In fact, Eddy and her followers did not believe in communication with those who had passed on. She clearly stated that “spiritualism is the antipode of Christian Science” (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 29). Also, Christian Science does not teach that salvation comes from a spiritual instructor. Salvation comes from God through the Christ, which Jesus taught and demonstrated for humanity. 

Through her practice of Christian Science, Eddy discovered the power of the one Spirit, the divine Mind, as the primal healing element of Jesus’ teachings. And Christian Scientists still honor Jesus today as “the highest human corporeal concept of the divine idea” (Science and Health, p. 589). Christian Scientists refer to Eddy as their Leader and greatly respect her mainly because she shared her discovery of the spiritual teachings of Christ Jesus and demonstrated how all can heal as he taught. And she urged church members, “Follow your Leader, only so far as she follows Christ” (Message to The Mother Church for 1902, p. 4). 

As this By-Law emphasizes, we can “defend the Cause of Christ” without harming the adherents of other systems. Alertness to misconceptions of Christian Science that would lead people to associate it with theosophy, hypnotism, or spiritualism is one way to do this. But it’s equally important to take the time in prayer to counter misconceptions with specific spiritual facts. Such prayer doesn’t condemn anyone. In fact, it’s the Golden Rule in action. 

While praying about this article, and how I could write about this subject in a Christian and compassionate way, doing no harm to the believers of other thought-systems, I felt the love and the spirit behind this By-Law. And the power of this love instantaneously healed me of a stubborn growth on my eyelid even though I wasn’t thinking about that condition or myself. This quick proof of healing reinforced for me how powerful each Manual By-Law is and how important it is to love humanity the way Jesus did, and defend it from beliefs that hide the healing power of God. 

It is divine Love as seen through the Christ that is the impetus behind this By-Law, and divine Love, of course, is universal, embracing all humanity. 

Charity to all? Even to those who hold differing beliefs? Absolutely!!!