The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1912-07-11
General Concept of God.

General Concept of God.
shall give no offense when l say that
the average person has very uncertain and
indefinite conception of God. If you were
to ask ten people to tell you who and what
God is, you would get ten different an
swers. Some think that God is person.
For instance, in his great painting, called
''The Holy Family which hangs in the
Metropolitan Art Gallery in New York
City, Reubens painted what he conceived
to be good portrait of God. He depicted
Him as man with long beard, and
patriarchal expression. In fact, there are
two or three portraits of God in the Metro
politan Art Gallery. They were painted
by artists who expressed their concept of
Him as man with finite form.
How many people there are who, when
they kneel down and with closed eyes rev.
erently pray to God, have in mind person,
or form, or image, to which they pray.
How many Others there are who think of
God as a being of anger and wrath, who
sends disease and disaster to those who dis
please Him. And are there not some who
believe that God lives in far-away coun-
try called heaven where He maintains
court after oriental fashion, and that it is
necessary for people to die and 60 there in
order to see Him; and still others whose
beliefs about God are so utterly nebulous
and indefnate that they would be entirely
unable to make any statement about Him
that would be satisfactory even to them
selves? In view of all this confusion of be-
lief about God is it strange that humanity
is sick and discordant? Is it strange that
there are so many different forms of relig :
ion, each pointing different way to God?
God AS Defined By Christian Science.
Christian Science teaches that God is
Principle, and not person. The Bible
reveals that God is intimate, and that He is
omnipotent, omniscient, and Omni- present,
and that He created the universe and every
thing it contains. Christian Science, there
fore. explains that God is Mind, that he is
the only source and origin, the creative,
governing Principle of the universe
Christian Science also teaches that God
is good and that He is Love, as the Bible
declares Him to be, and since He is infinite,
He is infinite good and infinite love. Can
we grasp the meaning of the word infinite
either as it relates to time or to space or to
qualities? Infinite means without beginning
or end. 1t means unlimited. We think
that we gain some idea of inhnity when we
contemplate the solar system. The farth-
est planet is so far away that it takes one
hundred and slxty-Six years for it to make
single revolution around the sun. Hal
ley's comet, travelling at the rate of forty
miles per second, takes thirty-eight years
to reach the end of its orbit and thirty
eight years to return. We get lost when
we try to contemplate the magnitude of
the space required for the movements of
the bodies in our solar system, and yet
that is only beginning. Astronomers
tell us that they have counted on photogra-
phic plates of the Milky Way one hun
dred and forty millions of suns each proba-
bly, having its own solar system. Inhnity
is truly beyond our grasp, but the Mind
that stretched the Milky Way across the
sky is infinite good and infinite love. In
finite good cannot be the author of evil and
infinite love does not send suffering or
distress. The Bible says that everything
God made was good, and Christian Science
stands on that declaration, and with that
as starting point, Christian Scientists pro-
coed to prove that good is ever-present,
and has power to destroy evil, and that
when man is governed by good as Princi-
pie he is healthy and happy.
How Healing Is Accomplished.
The thing that most people consider
difficult to understand is how healing is
accomplished through Christian Science.
Conceding that God is Mind or Principle,
they ask, How is that Principle to be
brought into relationship with the human
mind, SO as to destroy sickness and sin?
In other words, how can man proceed to
establish the unity between himself and
spiritual law so that this law may operate
through him, and free him from sickness
and from the desire to SIM
Christian Science explains the matter,
and makes it plain. In fact, Jesus explained
it and made it SO plain that there never
should have been any misunderstanding
about it.
If you were to connect your lamp to an
electric wire with wooden rod you would
have no light, but if you made the connec-
ton with metal rod you would come in
to instantaneous communication with the
at the other end of the line,
and your light would glow. God is
spirit, and when people try to establish the
connection between themselves and Spirit
with the wooden rods of human will, ignor-
ance, selfshness, pride, or any other form
of wrong thinking they will be disappoint-
ed; but when they use rods of the true met
al of love, humility, meekness, kindness,
and the golden rule of doing unto others as
you would have others do unto you the
nexus will be established and the divine
power will flow from Spirit into the human
imparting tosit qualities and
capabilities that it had not possessed be-
fore and bringing into it sense of peace
that it had not before known.
The prophet Micah said mans enemies
are they of his own household, and Jesus
repeated the statement. | use to under
stand their meaning to be that they meant
that mans enemies were his own kin,
but 1 now realize that mans enemies are !
they of his own mental household. The
mental guests or thoughts that we entertain