Article September 2, 1911 Issue

The special report on religious bodies compiled by the...

William S. Campbell

Washington (D. C.) Post

The special report on religious bodies compiled by the bureau of the census, gives the number of church-members in the United States as thirty-three millions in round numbers. Each one of these persons professedly believes in God. If each were to be asked to give a definition of God, a large majority would undoubtedly agree that God is a person and an inflexible and righteous judge. They would also admit that Jesus has thrown more light on the character and nature of God than has any other teacher.

Nothing can be more important than to know, if it be possible, what God is, and what are His nature and attributes. It is admitted that the Galilean Prophet had a singularly clear insight into spiritual realities, and that he spoke "as one having authority." A study of his statements about God shows them to be at variance with the belief that God is a person. On one occasion he said, "Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me." Still more at variance with the popular concept is his statement, "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you."

These seemingly extravagant statements become reasonable if we take the Master's own definition for God. It is given accurately in the Revised Version, "God is Spirit." He further stated that God is' life, and his favorite student, the "beloved disciple," summarized what he had learned from the great Teacher in the definition, "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." That the concept of God as a person was not the concept of the early church may be assumed from a statement made by Paul, the foremost church organizer of that day. In unequivocal terms he stated, "In him we live, and move, and have our being." The unreasonable assumption that the omnipresent and omnipotent creator is a person is a heritage of the Christian church from the dark ages. So closely has the pall of that period overhung the succeeding centuries that when, in our time, Mrs. Eddy proclaimed the true definition, that God is Spirit; God is Life; God is Love, it was like the voice of one crying in the wilderness—the wilderness of doctrinal beliefs.

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