Article January 22, 1910 Issue

The fundamental statement of Christian Science is this...

Rex G. White

Kansas City (Mo.) Spirit

The fundamental statement of Christian Science is this: "God is the sole creator. All that God has made is good; therefore, everything is good. Sin, sickness, and death, being not good, are not real." The idea is very clear, though apparently quite at variance with things as they are; in fact, so at opposites with the sin-filled and pain-racked world as to appear absurd. It is not, however, so wild a statement as it seems.

It is surprising and hardly creditable that our lawmakers should pass judgment upon a case in which the divinity of God is a question of dispute. Yet, such is the fact when Christian Scientists are prosecuted. The world has been under the domination of materia medica for so long a time that it needs but a hint from the doctors' trust to cause some one to rush into court or legislative hall with pleas or bills that, in many cases, are plain denials of the power—hence, the divinity—of God.

Why should a man be fined, imprisoned, or otherwise punished because he believes that his creator is able to heal him? The Methodist, Catholic, Episcopalian, or Presbyterian doctor unhesitatingly admits that God made his body, as well as his soul; he also admits, readily enough, that God can do all things. Going more deeply into the subject, we find the admission that God is the sole creator. Now, be careful, here; understand what is meant by creation. Man can make combinations and bring forth new results, but can you think of a color that you never saw, or of a sound that you never heard? To do so would require creative ability, and that is restricted to God alone. With these admissions, we arrive at the conclusion that God either sends the pain, suffering, and sin, or that, being a witness of the untold agonies of His children, He refuses to alleviate their sufferings. In either case, there is presented a spectacle of the source of all good creating His own opposites; of light creating darkness; heat creating cold; good creating evil,—a divine paradox that is insulting to our intelligence as well as revolting to one possessed with human sympathy, to say nothing of divine Love. As to His sending misery as a punishment for certain misdeeds, it is the weakest argument of all. What would one think of a father who would calmly watch the speechless agony of his loved ones, without a thought to help them. Such callousness on the part of a God who is Love is beyond comprehension; but if, for the sake of argument, we assume that God sent sickness into the world as chastisement, what right have you, Mr. Physician, to dare to oppose the will of God? To grant that God creates sickness is to admit that materia medica, with its pills and powders, is trying to stand between the wrath of God and the puny creature who has outraged His laws. The ministers declare that none are perfect; that even the Sunday School teachers do not live a single day without committing some sins,—minor ones, perhaps, but sins, nevertheless. They teach that every one will either be punished for his transgressions or be forgiven and allowed to enter upon eternal happiness without a true balance of books; that is, by repentance one cancels all obligations to his God.

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