Dualism describes that state of thought that declares there is one Mind because there is one God, but insists there is also the human mind we must contend with; that spiritual man is made in God’s image, but material man is what we have to work out of. “Science”, however, is derived from the Latin verb “to know”. Is it possible to know the truth and its lie at the same time? Imagine using the principle of mathematics to solve a calculation, and at the same time holding to a contradiction to that principle. What is the likelihood of reaching a correct result? The same goes for Christian Science practice. But let us look to the Bible for confirmation that we are on the right track, for the Bible is our “chart of life.”

Jesus addressed dualism head-on: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt.) If we profess that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent and yet pay more attention to the personal wants and physical demands of our day-to-day life, with God relegated to study time and church attendance, are we not trying to serve two masters? “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” (Prov.) This does not mean we acknowledge God only in selected activities!

Later in the Bible we find another warning against dualism: “…ask [God] in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” (James) The sincere student of Christian Science knows that the faith referred to here is not a blind faith, but “trustworthiness”, as Mrs. Eddy points out in the textbook, a holding to what we know to be true in Science, in the face of contrary evidence. There is no room for wavering, for declaring for a loving, omnipotent God, and at the same time accepting that this same God “allows” evil for reasons unknown.

However, the unwise student of Christian Science will strive, above all, to avoid medical help in his effort to serve God and not mammon. This student would rather profess a blind faith than address the fear resident in thought, a fear that denies God’s allness. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (II Timothy) There is no room for blind faith in Science.

Above all, the dualism that must be guarded against is the dualism that would infiltrate the heart, professing one thing and living another. To love God and to resent man is impossible. To trust God and to fear a medical doctor is impossible. To declare there is one Mind, and to indulge in bickering with your neighbor is not Science. Recognizing “the warfare with one’s self is grand; it gives one plenty of employment…” (Misc. Wr.) is true humility, and should be paramount in the heart of the student.

We pray for that day when students of Christian Science will be known, not as those who shun medical doctors, but as those who know the Bible, free of church dogma, true to original Christianity, where healing is a natural outgrowth of faith, a faith rock-solid, built on the Christ-message so perfectly articulated by Mrs. Eddy in her textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”.

Andrew Kidd