Article April 26, 1947 Issue

Ceasing from Idolatry

FRED C. FISHER

The very name "God" inspires reverence in the thoughts of most people, because to Him are properly ascribed all wisdom and all power. However, mankind often mistakes what constitutes the divine nature. Christ Jesus understood the divine nature, and his wonderful works proved the correctness of his understanding. He said (John 4:24), "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Deity is Spirit, and we worship God aright only as we understand Him. Jesus' interpretation of God as Spirit and All made no allowance for any reality that is not spiritual and Godlike.

Jesus understood that the flesh and all things material are without reality, and he proved that all so-called material knowledge, laws, and forces are impotent before the power of Spirit. His followers were able to emulate his wonderful works as long as they held steadfastly to the spiritual truths he taught, and worshiped Spirit. But when apathy and the desire for a less exacting way of worship allowed ritual and creed to replace spiritual activity, then the truth of being was lost sight of and the wondrous proofs of God's power ceased to appear. When the crucifixion of Jesus occupied the thought of his professed followers more than did the vision of the Christ which he demonstrated to be man's true nature, matter blotted out Spirit in their concept of man's being, and spiritual understanding, with its glorious effects of the healing of sin, disease, and death, was lost to mankind.

In her search for that healing truth which our Master said would make us free (John 8:32) Mary Baker Eddy discovered the spiritual methods which Jesus and the early Christians used. Through "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she gave this healing discovery to mankind, with the result that those who study her textbook and practice its instructions are able to heal themselves and others just as did the early followers of the Master. Like him, Mrs. Eddy recognized that God is infinite Spirit, divine Mind, and that matter, being the very opposite of Spirit, Mind, has no more substance than a false belief. She sets forth her conclusions about the nothingness of matter thus (ibid., p. 468): "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal: matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual."

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