Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1917-02-14

sible to deal with the subject intelli- |
gently. or to think about it accurately. |
Christian Science shows that all good
comes to man from God through the |
operation of His laws. and that evil
originates in the human carnal mind. |
which is ''enmity against God" Evil is
not an entity. 1t has no kingdom and
no king. 1t has no mind, no presence.
and no laws. The only power it can
ever exercise Is what 1t derives from
human belief in it. and human accept
ance of 1t.
Since God is infinite good He has
knowledge of good and of nothing else.
He could not possibly have knowledge
of evil. for evil does not exist in the
spiritual universe, and only exists in the
carnal mind. 1t has been we'll said that
If every one would quit SHINING there
would be no more sin. AS human con-
seriousness is evangelical by truth and
love, sin disappears.
There is no such thing as an angry
God waiting to smite you for sin, for
God has no knowledge of sin In any
form. Hence it follows that people are
not punished for sin.-they are punish
ed by sin, and when the sin is Destroy
ed and put away out of the human mind
the punishment stops, but as long as
the sin remains it will whip and punish
the sinner
Thus the forgiveness of sin consists
in the destruction Of sin, and the sin
exists nowhere but in the carnal human
mind. The belief that God pardons sin
merely because you ask Him to do so,
| without turning from the sin yourself
| and putting it away from you, Is fool
| ish self deception.
| People ask how God can destroy sin
when He knows nothing of sin and does
not even know that it exists. The an
| sWer is plain. He destroys it just
the sun destroys the darkness which
it never sees. When the light appears
the darkness disappears. Good and evil
cannot mingle any more than light and
darkness can mingle. One vanishes be-
| fore the other.
.Atonemsnt.
Any consideration of the subject of
sin necessarily involves an investiga-
ton of the whole subject of the atone
ment. in order to find out how the
atonement operates to deliver the in
dividual from the consequences of sin.
All along down through the centur-
| les people have been taught the doc
trine of the fall of man. 1t was as
serted that. after the creation, Gods
children had wandered off into sin, and
had gone astray. Because Of their trans
gression it was declared that God pun
ished them in this world with all sorts
of affections. and that after they died
they went to hell, where they must suf-
endless ages Of eternity.
In order to rescue humanity from this
awful condition it was pointed out that
some extraordinary thing must be done.
In this behalf it was declared that God
had one Son who had never trans
crossed, or committed any wrong, and
that the only thing that would propi-
tiate God would be for this one perfec,
Son to be subjected to every humilia-
ton, every suffering, and finally to be
put to death, and that after he had thus
) suffered and died, God would be salts
fled, and that thereafter His attitude
towards His erring children would
change.
Therefore, humanity has been laugh,
; for many centuries that it was the
function of the atonement to reconcile
God to man.
: Christian Science finds it impossible
to take this view of the atonement. The
In Malachi iii. 6. we read, II am the
Lord ! change not" The atonement
therefore, could not change the attitude
, of God towards His children. That in.
: finite love which He had for them ir
the beginning has remained always the
r same. He was not incensed or offended
! at them in the beginning, and since He
has never changed, it follows that He
= has never been incensed or offended a
2 them.
Christian Science shows that it ceult
e not possibly be the function Of tn,
e atonement to reconcile God to man, fol
J. God does not need to be reconciled ant
t cannot be changed, but that it is thu
, true function Of the atonement to rec
: oncile man to God.
: If one will approach the study of thu
atOnement from this viewpoint it will
e unfold in his consciousness as prac
e tical and helpful thing. God canno
t change, but man needs to change. H
o needs to learn how to get out of TIN
: wilderness of sickness, failure, and sin
: and how to find his way to God. jesus
o came as the great way-shower, to teacl
human beings how to do this. Their
v was nothing mystical about his minis
/. try or it's purpose. 1t was entirel.
S practical. He came to teach peopl
y how to get rid Of sin, disease and death
S and how to find God. He did not com
t to help God to find man, nor to SHOW
r God how to be kind and loving.
It It. therefore, follows that since Jesu
!" came as the way-shower there is some
thing for us to do in order to make tn
e atonement operative in our behalf 1t il
a not alone sufficient for us to say tina
e we believe that Jesus was the Son o
+ God, and that he suffered and died OF
t the cross. Something more than thi
: is necessary. We must follow the wa.
& that he has shown; we must learn tn
g truth that he taught, and must demon
t. strate it to meet our human needs, a.
r he demonstrated it and commanded hi
| followers to do; we must incorpOrat,
s his life in ours, by exemplifying tn
d love that he manifested. In this wa,
e alone can the atonement become oper
! ative for us. Through our continuing
d efforts to follow in his way needed
e changes take place in us. We get rio
q of superstition and sin, our conscious
= ness is evangelical by truth and love
s and we are thus brought into atone
s ment with God who all the while lie
s mains unchanging good.
8 The belief that the atonement chang
d es God and makes it possible for Hin
e to save man loses sight of the changes
s that man must make in himself befor
v he is fit to be saved. 1t is not the ma
e terial blood of Jesus shed on the cros
r that saves US from the consequences o
sin. but living the life that he lived, ant
n demonstrating the truth that he taught
does save us not only from sin, but ais,
v from sickness and from every kind o
= human discord.
o The Man Jesus.
d In Christian Science we are taught t,
= diferentiate between Jesus and Christ
r Jesus was the human man, born O
! Marys Christ was the Divine Man, tn,
Son of God 1t is only as this differ
2 ence becomes clear to us that we cal
d begin to understand the life and works
r of the man. Jesus. In John viii. 56-5
v we may read what throws much ligh
on this subject. Jesus said, you
o father Abraham rejoiced to see my day
f he saw it and was glad. Then said tn,
d Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fit,
o years old. and hast thou seen Abraham
d Jesus said unto them, Verify. Verify,
e say unto you. before Abraham was,