Article August 3, 1912 Issue

One does not have to accept Christian Science in order...

Jno. M. Dean

Memphis (Tenn.) News Scimitar

One does not have to accept Christian Science in order to grasp its view-point, and yet this is logically deduced from Jesus' declaration, "God is Spirit" (Revised Version), a premise which no Christian thinker will presume to deny. If God is Spirit and man is made in His image and likeness, as the Scripture says, there can be no escaping the conclusion that the real man is spiritual, however transcendental this may appear to our human sense of things. And let it be said here that no critic has yet dared attempt to show that Mrs. Eddy in her book, Science and Health, even for an instant departs from her premise of God as Spirit. Science of whatever nature must be absolute to be science, and the science of Christianity is no exception to this rule. It hews to the line and takes no note of human opinions and beliefs, however deeply rooted, and never judges "according to the appearance," well knowing that the true creation is spiritual and therefore must be "spiritually discerned."

The pitiful inadequacy of human judgment is shown by the fact that mortal ignorance deemed this little earth the center of the universe around which our own sun and myriads of other worlds revolved until astronomical science upset these false conclusions, although sense evidence would still declare them true. In like manner Christian Science overturns prevalent notions regarding God and man, and submits every statement to proofs which should open the eyes of earth-blinded materialists who can see no farther than their own self-circumscribed horizon. Thus it comes to pass that one critic, from his lack of understanding, presumes to deride a system which commands the loving and loyal allegiance of tens of thousands of his fellows who are, no doubt, as capable of clear thinking as is he.

It must be borne in mind, however, that while Christian Science is absolute in its statements, it recognizes a relative condition of human experience which must be remedied instead of ignored. Erroneous conceptions of man and the universe, with their resultant sin, sickness, and death, are not alone individual, but universal, and it is this universal thought which must be combated and overcome before man arrives at the truth of being. The individual must recognize the wrong conclusion in universal consciousness in order to eradicate their effects upon himself, and it is only by individual effort that the whole will be made perfect.

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