Article October 9, 1902 Issue

A Thoughtful Reply

Bicknell Young

The Interior

Mr. Editor.

Starting from the point upon which we agree, "that God in His spiritual being is the elemental fact in the universe," we must conclude that the fact remains throughout the infinity of that universe. The words, "in his spiritual being," might imply that God is something besides Spirit, but this, I take it, was not intended. Your statement that the Christian Scientist reaches his next conclusion "by a leap of the sheerest dogmatism" is unwarranted, as is the assertion, "Nothing but the jingle of phrases supports the assumption that because an infinite Spirit is the origin of all things, all things must be spirit—that God cannot create a form of existence different from himself." It is admitted that God is infinite Spirit. Being infinite Spirit, there is no logical conclusion other than that he must express himself after his own nature, after the nature of infinite Spirit. The Bible indicates that the kingdom of God is spiritual. It also indicates the destruction of the material world. If we believe this and admit it, then we must admit that the material world is finite, for the destruction of the Infinite is inconceivable and impossible. If Spirit then creates matter, we see the Infinite creating that which can be destroyed, or in other words, the Infinite creating finite, which is a contradiction of terms. From the standpoint of God, it is clear that we must deny matter a priori, or deny Spirit a priori. Why? Because God's creation is eternal, and his kingdom, which "shall have no end," according to the Bible, would be partly spiritual and partly material if we accept matter a priori. In other words, matter would be eternal like Spirit.

Christian Scientists do not deny the existence of matter as a human belief, but they must deny it as a part of eternal entity if that entity is admitted to be Spirit.

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