Editorial May 18, 1963 Issue

Forsaking Matter for Spirit

Carl J. Welz

Our progress in Christian Science depends upon how clearly we differentiate between matter and Spirit and how willing we are to give up matter when we see what matter is and to replace it with Spirit in our consciousness of being. The second of the Ten Commandments warns (Ex. 20: 4, 5), "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them."

In an article entitled "There is no Matter," which appears in her book "Unity of Good," Mary Baker Eddy says (p. 31), "According to Christian Science, the first idolatrous claim of sin is, that matter exists; the second, that matter is substance; the third, that matter has intelligence; and the fourth, that matter, being so endowed, produces life and death."

It is not difficult to recognize matter in the form of material objects, but it requires an understanding of the Christ to sort out in human thought the material and spiritual elements. These seem to be intermingled, causing us, not knowing the difference, to err by discarding some of the spiritual along with the material or by accepting some of the material along with the spiritual.

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