Three Movements, One Promise
In 1866 a New England woman came to believe that matter is not finally real. In 1889 a couple in Kansas City began teaching that thoughts have creative power and that every person is divine. In 1950 an American writer of adventure and science fiction stories offered a new method for clearing the mind, and it grew into a religion of immortal spirits. Christian Science, New Thought, and Scientology are three different movements. Yet they make a similar promise: your deepest trouble is a wrong understanding of who you are, and the right knowledge will set you free.
The Gospel tells a harder and better story. Sin is real. Death is real. A holy God is truly offended, and no change of thinking can pay what we owe. So the rescue had to be real too: the eternal Son of God in real flesh, dying a real death and rising from a real tomb.
“Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”1 JOHN 4:2–3 · KJV
In this section cult is a theological term, never an insult. It names a group that uses Christian words while denying the Gospel or the God it reveals: another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel (2 Corinthians 11:4). See What Is a Cult?.
Christian Science and Unity speak Christian language throughout, so the word fits them plainly. Scientology sits at the edge of it. It does not present itself as a Christian body, and it calls itself “a religion of religions.” Still, it uses the words church and minister and a cross for its symbol, and it offers salvation with no Savior. People often confuse it with Christian Science, though the two have no connection.
Many Christian Scientists are gentle and disciplined. Many in Unity are warm and prayerful. Many Scientologists first came looking for help with real pain. We judge teaching, not hearts. Labels don't save, and they don't damn. The question for any person is what he is trusting.
We will ask the same four questions of each movement. Who is God? Who is Jesus? How is a person saved? What is the final authority? Then we will open the Bible and talk about how to love and reach the person in front of you.
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For Deeper Study
- The Kingdom of the CultsAmazon Walter MartinThe standard evangelical reference, with chapters on Christian Science, Scientology, and Unity.
- Charts of Cults, Sects, and Religious MovementsAmazon H. Wayne HouseSide-by-side doctrine charts for quick reference.
- Mary Baker EddyAmazon Gillian GillA full biography from outside the evangelical world. Sympathetic to Eddy; read it for history, not theology.
- The Church of Scientology: A History of a New ReligionAmazon Hugh B. UrbanA secular scholar's history from Princeton University Press. Not written from a Christian view.
- Spirits in Rebellion: The Rise and Development of New ThoughtAmazon Charles S. BradenThe classic history of New Thought. Not written from our position.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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What Is a Cult?
A cult, as this section uses the word, is a group that uses Christian words while denying the Gospel or the God it reveals, preaching another Jesus, another spirit, or another gospel.
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