Article April 10, 1915 Issue

My comment has been requested on a letter from a Lutheran...

Judge Clifford P. Smith

Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald

My comment has been requested on a letter from a Lutheran minister which you recently published, in which he announced his discovery that Christian Science denies the deity of Jesus. This discovery could have been made at any time since 1875, when the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, was first published. There is no reason why your correspondent should get excited about it now; neither is there any reason why he should quote mere allusions to this point, as though it were obscure or hidden in the Christian Science text-book. It is not. The fact that God is greater than Jesus is distinctly and repeatedly stated throughout the authorized literature of Christian Science.

Whether the position thus taken by Christian Science can be reconciled with the Lutheran creed, or any creed, is another question; and if Christian Science contradicts a creed, or all of the creeds, that fact, if such it be, would not disprove the truth of Christian Science; it should invite thoughtful men to compare Christian Science and the creeds with the Bible. Opposition to Christian Science would quickly diminish and disappear if earnest truth-seekers, instead of taking medieval theology as a criterion, would simply read the New Testament in an original manner in the light thrown upon it by Christian Science.

For Christians, at least, the question whether Jesus is God ought to be settled by what he said. He must have known whether he was man or God, and this point is within the scope of the subjects on which he spoke. If he were Deity, he would have said so plainly and often. The readers of the World-Herald are therefore invited to consider the following facts: first, Jesus never said he was God; second, he spoke of himself as a man; third, twice he virtually denied that he was God; fourth, several of his sayings are flatly inconsistent with the theory that he is God. The following citations may be consulted: John viii. 40; Luke xviii. 19; John iv. 19–26, especially verses 22 and 24; John x. 22-39, especially verses 33 and 36; John xiv. 28; John xvii. 16, 22; Mark xii. 28-34, especially verses 32 and 34. Many other citations could be given, but these seven will at least furnish good food for thought.

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