Editorial April 30, 1966 Issue

Knowing God as Infinite Person

Carl J. Welz

To think of God as a person in the ordinary sense is to limit one's concept of Deity. Persons, as we know them, are people with limitations. These limitations are physical, mental, moral, even spiritual. Christ Jesus pointed to God as Spirit. The disciple John referred to God as Love. And in Deuteronomy we read of God, "He is thy life." Deut. 30:20; Spirit, Love, Life, is incorporeal, infinite. Christian Science teaches further that God is Principle. But this Science does not altogether discard the thought of God as Person.

Jesus knew God intimately. When he went to the tomb of Lazarus, he "lifted up his eyes, and said. Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me." John 1 1: 41, 42; Then he spoke to Lazarus and in a loud voice told him to come forth, and Lazarus came out of the tomb, alive.

In "Rudimental Divine Science" Mrs. Eddy tells us plainly that God is not a person in the limited sense; then she says, "But God is personal, if by person is meant infinite Spirit." Rud., p. 2; And in her Message to The Mother Church for 1901, in a discussion under the heading of "The Christian Scientists' Pastor," she writes, '"True, I have made the Bible, and 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' the pastor for all the churches of the Christian Science denomination, but that does not make it impossible for this pastor of ours to preach!" '01., p. 11 . And she continues, a little farther on, "Whosoever saith there is no sermon without personal preaching, forgets what Christian Scientists do not, namely, that God is a Person, and that he should be willing to hear a sermon from his personal God!"

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

Send a comment to the editors
NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Poem
WHAT PRICE VICTORY?
April 30, 1966
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit