Editorial October 7, 1933 ISSUE

"Yea, yea; Nay, nay"

W. Stuart Booth

It may be said that "the scientific statement of being" given by Mrs. Eddy on page 468 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" harmonizes with and expresses obedience to the spirit of Christ Jesus' command, "Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay," for it is constituted of clear affirmative statements of the truth about God and man, and also of definite denials of the errors associated with the false claim that man and life are in and of matter. The opening denial, "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter," is needed by men to prepare their thought for the reception of the closing declarations of truth: "Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual." Obviously one's belief in error must be denied in order that it may be displaced by the truth.

One who has learned somewhat of the control which thought has over the human body, but who still believes that life is in matter, might fear perhaps that one's use of the opening denial in "the scientific statement of being" would have an undesirable effect. The baselessness of such fear, however, is shown by means of human reasoning and spiritual revelation, and also by the healings which authenticate the Christian Science teachings. Certainly, if life, consciousness, and truth were really in and of matter, a denial of this would have no effect; whereas the disavowal and rejection of a false belief about matter from the standpoint of spiritual truth breaks the bondage which is coincident with acceptance of an error as if it were a fact.

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