Article September 26, 1908 Issue

In a recent issue of The News Tribune, an English...

Charles K. Skinner

Detroit (Mich.) News Tribune

In a recent issue of The News Tribune, an English writer is credited with a sharp criticism of what he is pleased to state is the teaching of Christian Science. He says, "The doctrine that pain and death are not real at all, except in so far as the victims are cowardly enough to submit to them, is a diabolical doctrine," etc. With all due respect to our brother across the sea, I must say his "man of straw," alias misapprehension, has been fought by many earlier critics in their attacks upon Christian Science, only to end in their discomfiture.

The position of Christian Scientists on the reality of death and pain is precisely that of the Founder of Christianity. When apprised of the death of Lazarus, he said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth," and of Jairus' daughter, "She is not dead, but sleepeth." Then as now, materialists of the age discredited the voice of Truth, for it is related that "they laughed him to scorn."

And what did the Master do? Did he say, "I mistake, these older people know better than I, the maid is indeed dead?" No! in the face of the testimony of the material senses, he took the damsel by the hand and said, "I say unto thee, arise." Did he see death as a reality, or, in other words, a creation of God? The Scriptures say that God made all that was made and that His works are eternal, the only reality. Would Jesus have undertaken to destroy death or sickness, if he believed them creations of God? He saw the damsel in a dormant mental condition, from which, through the power of Truth, he aroused her. It is true that he passed through the same experience, but he said, "I will rise again," and he did, thus to demonstrate to mankind that man (spiritual man) was indeed given dominion over all.

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