Science and Religion: Common Ground
THE title caught my attention: ``Bridging the science-religion divide'' (Monitor, July 27, 1994). It headed an article in this newspaper this past summer. I've studied both science and religion my whole life, but in a different way than you might think. I've studied the physical sciences--chemistry, physics, biology, and so on--sure, but more than that, I've studied Christian Science.
Christian Science isn't a science that's included in the school curriculum, but it is Science. It's provable. And what makes it so remarkable is that it's a religion too. To me, it's even more. It's a way of life. It's a way of life for me because it's practical. That's why that article caught my attention.
To many it seems absurd that science and religion could possibly be united, either in theory or practice. To others it seems wrong not to try to understand their common ground. To the individual bogged down in science as dealing solely with matter, this dilemma is not easily resolved. But a spiritual understanding of Science, that is, of divine Science, shows that if religion is to be practical, it actually must bridge the gap and be scientific.
Mary Baker Eddy proved the practicality of both Science and religion by showing that divine Science and Christianity are so intertwined that they couldn't possibly be separated and still maintain their usefulness to humanity. What makes Christian Science unique is the intertwining of spiritual understanding with provability.
Christian Science, which Mrs. Eddy discovered, is both deeply Christian and inescapably scientific. Useful as the material sciences of mathematics, biology, and chemistry are, they have nothing, really, to add to Christian Science, which is the application of the Science of Mind, or God, to human needs. Christian Science is not something that Mrs. Eddy made up or invented; she discovered and founded it through earnest study of the Bible, God's Word.
Mrs. Eddy writes of her experience in her autobiography, Retrospection and Introspection. She says: ``I wandered through the dim mazes of materia medica, till I was weary of `scientific guessing,' as it has been well called'' (p. 33). Elsewhere in the book she tells where she did find what she was searching for. She writes: ``The Bible was my textbook. It answered my questions as to how I was healed; but the Scriptures had to me a new meaning, a new tongue. Their spiritual signification appeared; and I apprehended for the first time, in their spiritual meaning, Jesus' teaching and demonstration, and the Principle and rule of spiritual Science and metaphysical healing,--in a word, Christian Science'' (p. 25).
Spiritual Science and metaphysical healing may seem like contradictory phrases. But they're not. They actually go hand in hand. This is why Christian Science is more than just another religion. It's a religion based completely on the Principle and rule of Christ Jesus' teachings. Jesus assured his followers, Matthew's Gospel tells us, ``Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil'' (5:17). It's just as natural to expect results from this scientific rule of Christianity as we do when we apply the rules of geometry. Both are sciences; both are accurate when used correctly.
When the laws of divine Science are applied, they naturally lead to metaphysical healing--spiritual healing based on the divine Mind, God. Through the teachings of Christian Science one finds that the divide between true religion and divine Science has already been bridged. It was bridged centuries ago when Christ Jesus proved the supremacy of the Science of Mind through healing. And the link between Science and Christianity has since been elucidated by Mrs. Eddy in her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which so clearly bridges the science-religion divide that people have systematically proved the practicality of its teachings for over a hundred years now. When you read this book, along with the Bible, you too will find yourself bridging the supposed science-religion divide.
