In the issue of the State Journal for Jan. 29 appeared a...

Royal D. Steams—Lincoln, Neb.

Nebraska State Journal

In the issue of the State Journal for Jan. 29 appeared a criticism on Christian Science which I beg leave to answer. The critic vigorously attacks the alleged claim of Christian Science "that there is no such thing as disease, sickness, death, or sin," etc. There is nothing original or new in the attack of the critic, as the path over which he travels is well beaten from the tread of many pilgrims.

The teaching of Christian Science is, that God, good, infinite Spirit, is the only cause and creator, and realizing that nothing can be found in an effect which is not to be found in its cause, the Christian Scientist recognizes that sickness, death, sin, etc., can come from no part of God's creation; that the material body and carnal mind represent a false sense of man which must be cast out by the knowledge of absolute Truth; that perfection does not contain imperfection. "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." If evil in any form was God-created, it would enter into divine consciousness and so become a part of divine concept and purpose, and thereby establish the house divided against itself which Jesus said could not stand. It is logically inconceivable that God could create evil. The Bible declares that God cannot look upon evil; moreover, if disease, sin, etc., were of the "very good" things that were wrought through the exercise of His creative fiat, then there would be no available relief from them, for "whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it." "Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?"

Mrs. Eddy says on page 460 of Science and Health: "Sickness is neither imaginary nor unreal,—that is, to the frightened, false sense of the patient. Sickness is more than fancy; it is solid conviction." Again she says, "To mortal sense, sin and suffering are real, but immortal sense includes no evil nor pestilence." "Christians must take up arms against error at home and abroad. They must grapple with sin in themselves and in others, and continue this warfare until they have finished their course" (pp. 210, 29).

As to the unreality of death, Mrs. Eddy says in "Unity of Good": "To say that you and I, as mortals, will not enter this dark shadow of material sense, called death, is to assert what we have not proved." Jesus said, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." Paul states that the Christ "hath abolished death;" furthermore he declares that "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death," clearly demonstrating that death is no part of the divine order of things; that it is not a friend but an enemy, and that it is to be destroyed. While Christian Scientists accept the Bible teaching as above stated, and that it is possible for man to arrive at such a degree of spiritual understanding that his passing out of this earthly experience shall not be through the gateway of death, but through the unfolding portals of eternal Life, they admit that centuries may pass before this exalted state is attained.

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