Article August 30, 1919 Issue

In answer to the assertion by a local pastor in his sermon...

Joseph E. Badger in

Montreal (Canada) Star

In answer to the assertion by a local pastor in his sermon that Christian Scientists deny the existence of the material body, it may be said that Christian Science does not deny that the material body exists to human sense, but explains it as being a phenomenon of this human or material sense. It might interest the pastor to read an extract from a textbook on physics by Henderson and Woodhull, of Columbia University: "Matter makes itself known to us by the testimony of the senses.... We see, hear, smell, taste, touch, in our consciousness only. We cannot assert, therefore, that matter exists apart from this consciousness."

If matter and the material body make themselves known to us only through the testimony of the senses, will not the effort to follow Christ Jesus' command, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment," and Paul's statement, "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh," enable one to put off the old man and put on "the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness"?

Christ Jesus gave the fundamental lesson of Christian Science in his definition of God as Spirit, and his declaration that "it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." How much is nothing? What is the significance of which is altogether unprofitable,—what is its purpose, and who made it? Christian Science says that flesh, matter, is nothing more or less than a misconception; that while man seems to the senses to be material, he is in reality spiritual. The image and likeness of God is the image and likeness of Spirit. This is the real man, the spiritual individuality which reflects Life, Truth, and Love. It is not the real man or God's creation that we deny, but the lie about it; not creation itself, but the distorted false view, which is repudiated in Christian Science. In Hebrews we read, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."

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