Article March 3, 1917 Issue

The writer was for some time unable to understand the...

Carl E. Herring

Lincoln (Neb.) Star

The writer was for some time unable to understand the objection which our critic seems to have to the Christian Science statement that God is All-in-all, especially in view of the fact that the allness of God is recognized as a basic truth of all religious thought. The fact, however, that the critic charges that Christian Science is pantheism, the very opposite of what it really is, explains the reason for this objection and shows how a wrong start will muddle the entire thinking.

God is "all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving," Mrs. Eddy says on page 587 of Science and Health, and when she says that "the Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all" (p. 331), it is in this sense of omnipotence, and not in the pantheistic sense of God being in all, that the expression must be understood. This illustrates how the uprooting of a passage from its context and the placing of a wrong interpretation upon it leads to misunderstanding. The capitalization and the use of hyphens should prevent the mistake, aside from the fact that every Sunday service contains a repetition of the "scientific statement of being," as found on page 468 of Science and Health, which begins, "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter," and it will hardly be assumed that there is anything in the book flatly contradicting this and teaching pantheism, which is a belief of life and intelligence in matter.

There are fundamental differences of doctrine between Methodism and Christian Science, differences of tremendous import to the health, happiness, and longevity of the human race. They are sharply defined, should be clearly stated, and when so stated should preclude the possibility of clouding the issue by reference to the beliefs of others who neither have nor claim any affinity with Christian Science. The trained theologian does not object to the statement that God is All-in-all, but insists upon another power, opposed to God, in the form of a personal devil. While Christian Scientists find more inspiration in thinking of God as Spirit and as Love, as the Bible teaches, than in thinking of Him as a person, the difference becomes hopeless in the face of the prevailing theological dogma of this other power at war with God, in a doubtful issue; and at this point Christian Science speaks in no uncertain terms, and says to sin and disease in the language of St. John, "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

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