Article August 1, 1908 Issue

In Christian Science we recognize God to be Life,...

William C. Kaufman

Anaconda (Mont.) Standard

In Christian Science we recognize God to be Life, Truth, Love, which is Spirit, or divine Mind. Our "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." If God never made sin, sickness, and death, they were in reality never made, and it is thus that Christian Scientists view evil. According to the science of numbers, a mistake is not a reality; that is, it is not recognized as having a place in the science; therefore, powerless so far as mathematics is concerned. The creation, reality, and power of sin are thus disposed of in Christian Science. Christian Science teaches that all is divine Mind or divine consciousness. Thus spiritual consciousness would be the real or eternal, while material sense would be temporal or unreal. Into the spiritual state of consciousness the material consciousness could not enter.

Jesus revealed this spiritual consciousness, which included all law, cause, and effect. His purpose was to lift mortals out of the material state of belief. He was not understood by the religious people of his time. They said of him, "He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?" Only those who were weary of materialism understood him and followed him. Christ, the divine nature, was manifested through Jesus to show mankind the way out of the dream of the material senses, out of the errors of the human mind. When men begin to desire the truth, the spiritual sense of things appears, and error disappears. Salvation means freedom from every mistake, every illusion. If the material sense of man and the universe is the right view, why preach Spirit and spiritual things? Further, why interpret the Scriptures to maintain materialism? Salvation does not mean the preaching of a theory; it means the overcoming of everything that separates man from God—good.

Jesus' crucifixion was his final demonstration over physical sense testimony and over death. It enlightened us to discern eternal life and see our salvation from sin, sickness, and death. We, however, only realize this salvation from sin and sickness as we prove it for ourselves. Hence our salvation. To preach Christ, we understand to mean that we are proving Spirit to be all. . . . The healing power of Christ was the proof that Truth destroyed the illusion of the five physical senses manifested in sin, sickness, and discord. This demonstration was the proof of God's allness—the supremacy of Spirit. Jesus demonstrated that God is ever present with men. To heal means "to make whole," to correct. One could not make whole anything that had no primary perfect state. Jesus, the Christ, showed us man's true selfhood and man's relation to God. This reformed the sinner and healed the sick. Christian Scientists are casting our devils (evils), raising those dead in trespass and sins. They are healing in proportion to their spiritual growth and their demonstration of Christ, the divine nature in themselves. They understand that the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

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