The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1918-05-06


Jews believed that the faithful were
gathered to ADraham's bosom. Jesus
would have brought no new message
had he taught the gaining OF heaven
through dying. The Chinese have al
ways believed in an after life, and
even the Indians have clung to
hope of a happy hunting ground. Let
us examine the instructions given by
| Jesus to his students, as recorded in
the tenth chapter of Matthew; Co
to the lost sheep Of the house of Is
rael. And as ye go, preach, saying,
| The kingdom Of heaven is at hand.
| Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers
raise the dead; cast out devils: freely
ye have received. freely give. Pro-
vide neither gold nor silver nor brass
in your purses, for the workmen is
worthy of his meat"
"The kingdom of heaven is at
hand" In the Christian Science text.
book we read that heaven is harmony.
Therefore the message Of the Savior,
which is indeed good tidings of great
JOY to the bound and afflicted Of
earth, is that harmony, deliverance,
salvation, are at hand and are to be
realized in the proportion that will
lift our thought from the material
and lay hold on the spiritual facts of
being.
Eternal Punishment UnthinkabIe.
The notion Of place of eternal tor
| ment is absolutely foreign to the
teachings Of him whose keynote was
Love divine. In the parable OF the
| prodigal son Christ Jesus shows that
the suffering andpunishment of the
wayward boy were not inflicted by
the father but were the results of
| sin, and lasted only while the sin
| lasted. Had Jesus meant to teach
that man would be eternally damned
by reason of grievous sin, here would
have been His opportunity TO show
! the fathers gate closed to the erring
! child and the SHINING one remanded
! to the realm of eternal anguish. But
what do we find? "And when he
came to himself he said, How many
hired servants of my fathers have
| bread enough and to spare, and |
! perish with hunger. | will arise and
go to my father and will say unto
him, father, | have sinned against
heaven, and before thee, and am nc
more fit to be called thy son: make
me as one of thy hired servants. And
he arose, and came to his father. But
when he was yet a great way off, his
| father saw him, and had compassion,
and ran, and fell on his neck, and
| kissed him-and said to his servants,
| Bring forth the best robe and put il
on him; and put a ring ON his hand,
and shoes on his feet, for this my son
was dead, and is alive again; he was
| lost and is found" So the concept of
everlasting hell-fire is of human orr
gin, not divine.
Have you ever heard the story that
is told of the man who was such a
never failing optimist that he met ev.
| cry recital of calamity with the com.
forting words: "Well, well, it might
have been worse?p, This custom OF
| his aroused the ire of one of his
his friends, an avowed pessimist, who
resolved to put an end to it. Meet
ing him soon after; said the pessimist
| to his friend, | dreamed about you
| last night---a most horrible dream
and when you have heard it, | know
that you cannot say that it might
have been worse" and then he
told of his supposed dream, graph.
| cally picturing his friend perishing in
the torments Of everlasting fire
! and making the story as horrible as
| possible. When he had finished, the
other thought for a moment, and then
said, "well, that might have been
worse" How might it have been
worse?" echoed his astonished
friend" at might have been true, .
said the other.
And SO we think about the theory
Of everlasting punishment How
terrible, unthinkable it would be il it
were true. Christian Science, how.
ever, revealing an all-powerful crea-
tor, who is ever present Love, shows
that such concept is too bad to be
true
Heaven and He'll,
Supplementing his statement that
the kingdom of heaven is al hand,
Jesus said on another occasion, "Ihe
kingdom of God cometh not with OBJ.
servation; neither shall they say,
Lo herel or 10, there! for behold,
the kingdom of God is within you"
indicating clearly that heaven is o
divine state of mind" (Scicnce and
Health, p. 291) rather than a material
localiyt. II heaven is mental, so then
DC that which is called hell Let us
read the Christianly scientific defini.
ton of hell: Mortal belief; error;
lust; rcmoIse; hatred; revenge; sin;
sickness; Ceath; suffering and self
destruction; selfimposed agony ef-
focts of sin, that which worketh alb
omiaation or maketh a lie." (Science
and Health p. 5SS). Now most of lg
FIND ourselves in enc or more Of the
conditions of thought just described,
and the insistent yearning of all man.
kind is for deliverance, for harmony,
for heaven2 How is this to be at
tained2 BY will power, By forcing
ourselves to think thoughts of health,
rather than thoughts of sickness? By
no means, would a teacher say to a
class in school, children, clench your
fists, close your teeth hard, use all
the determination and will power at
your command, and say, Five times
five must equal twenty-five?" Never.
A teacher imparts to his class the
truth about arithmetic. and that truth
quietly enters the pupils thoughts and
gently disDlaceS the ignorance which