Editorial September 30, 1961 Issue

Monotheism in Practice as Well as in Theory

Ralph E. Wagers

To be a monotheist in theory and a dualist in practice would qualify one as a double-minded man, who, James writes in his Epistle, is unstable in all his ways. To such a one he urges (4:8): "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."

Instead of acknowledging one God, dualism claims that the universe is under the dominion of two opposing powers, a good one and an evil one. It considers man to be constituted of two original and independent elements, matter and spirit. This doctrine is so universally accepted that to take issue with it is often to incur the displeasure and opposition of many otherwise like-minded friends, associates, and relatives.

Referring to such opposition, Mrs. Eddy writes in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 127), "We should thank God for persecution and for prosecution, if from these ensue a purer Protestantism and monotheism for the latter days of the nineteenth century."

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