The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-05-21

themselves wise in religious matters
have held the world in the grip of the
belief that God is either directly or
indirectly responsible for sin, disease,
and death; and until we break that
false belief, until we turn away from
it as the prophet Ezekiel implored
the Israelites to do when he said,
"Turn we, turn we from your evil
ways; for why yill We die" we shall
continue to sin, we shall continue to be
sick, and continue to die God, as
the supposed creator of good and evil
of life and death, sin and disease, is
not the God of the Christian Scientists,
nor is He the God of the inspired
Scriptures, which teach that He is the
same yesterday, today and forever,
without variableness or shadow of turn
ing. The letters c.. S. stand not only
for Christian Science, but for common
sense as well, and it is common sense,
because it is my sense and your sense;
il is sense that belongs to all of us;
and Christian Scientists have nothing
that is not yours; they are simply
putting to use what non Christian
Scientists are letting lie dormant in
their thought.
Life and Death Opposites.
If God is changeless how could He
give life and at the same time give
death? When life was existent what
would become of death, and when
death was existent what would become
of life? If God created them, they
must both be as eternal as their crea-
tor How can they bot exist eternaly
when one manifests the absence of
the other as certainly as light annihi-
lates darkness?
The Bible tells us that death is the
wage of sin. Do we believe it? The
Bible does not say that in one case
death is the wage of sin and that in
another case it is the wage of good
ness. 1t makes the unqualified state
ment that "the wages of sin is death
| If God created death, He must have
! created sin. We cannot escape this
conclusion by saying that He only per
| mits sin; for to permit it He must
know it, and how can He know it wher
the Scriptures tell us that God is OF
! purer eyes than to behold evil and
cannot look upon iniquity. If God is
of purer eyes than to behold evil ant
cannot look upon iniquity, if He created
death and death is the wage of sin, ther
it logically follows that God created sin
and as everything He created is good
it further follows logically that sin is
not evil but is good an argument that
cannot for an instant be sustained
and our hearts are filled with Joy wher
we know, as Christian Science teaches
us, that God has no consciousness OF
sim
! Life is creative and death destruc
tive, so that God, the primal and only
creator, must be Life and not death
and therefore DEATH measured by the
standard of perfection which is God
Is not real but is the supposition alb
sence of or belief in the negation OF
! Life. To what then can the belief in
sin and death pertain save to mortal
consciousness? This mortal conscious.
ness is to be put off with the old man
and his deeds, and as it is put off and
is superseded by immortal consciousness
, man will be found in the divine image
| knowing no sin and death, but for
ever manifesting eternal Life, being
! perfect even as his Father which is
in heaven is perfect"
| There is universal belief about
death that it is either the gateway to
| heaven or the entrance to hell This
belief would logically lead us to de-
stroy the innocent infant in order to
insure its gaining the kingdom. and the
action of the natives of India in cast.
! ing their babes into the river Gauges
| would be based on sound logic and
good reason! How manifest is the
| fallacy of the belief that death is ever
a friend!
| Death to be Overcome.
| Death is an enemy. Christ Jesus
proved its unreality, and overcame ii
In accordance with the law of God
thus indicating ultimate freedom from
death for all mankind. Is this state.
ment impossible of acceptance? 1t is
not an original one by any means, but
simply a reiteration of what Paul has
said Paul did not say that we can
Igo on overcoming all things until it
| comes to death, but that in it's presence
we are helpless victims. He said the
last enemy to be destroyed is death
land in his letter to Timothy he saws
that Christ Jesus "hath abolished death
Iand hath brought life and Immortality
| to light" Do we believe that Paul
understood what he was saying? Do we
believe these statements to be true?
We, as Christian Scientists. accent
them without modification or qualifiea
ton, because they are so absolutely in
accord with what our Master did and
said. True, Christian Scientists have
not yet reached the point where thew
have overcome the universal belief in
death, nor have they yet reached the
point where they heal every case that
it brought to them, but like the pro-
! digal son of the Bible story. thew have
started on their journey back to their
Fathers house. They are weary of
living in country far away from God
they are weary of feeding on the busks