Chapter XI - Some Objections Answered
Fruitless worship
352:1
proof that it was heard, because they did not sufficiently
proof that it was heard, because they did not sufficiently
understand God to be able to demonstrate His power
to heal, – to make harmony the reality and discord the
unreality.
Spirit the tangible
352:5
Our Master declared that his material body was not
Our Master declared that his material body was not
spirit, evidently considering it a mortal and material be-
lief of flesh and bones, whereas the Jews took
a diametrically opposite view. To Jesus, not
materiality, but spirituality, was the reality of man's ex-
istence, while to the rabbis the spiritual was the intangi-
ble and uncertain, if not the unreal.
Ghosts not realities
352:12
Would a mother say to her child, who is frightened at
Would a mother say to her child, who is frightened at
imaginary ghosts and sick in consequence of the fear:
"I know that ghosts are real. They exist,
and are to be feared; but you must not be
afraid of them"?
352:17
Children, like adults, ought to fear a reality which
Children, like adults, ought to fear a reality which
can harm them and which they do not understand, for
at any moment they may become its helpless victims;
but instead of increasing children's fears by declaring
ghosts to be real, merciless, and powerful, thus water-
ing the very roots of childish timidity, children should
be assured that their fears are groundless, that ghosts
are not realities, but traditional beliefs, erroneous and
man-made.
352:26
In short, children should be told not to believe in ghosts,
In short, children should be told not to believe in ghosts,
because there are no such things. If belief in their reality
is destroyed, terror of ghosts will depart and health be re-
stored. The objects of alarm will then vanish into noth-
ingness, no longer seeming worthy of fear or honor. To
accomplish a good result, it is certainly not irrational to
tell the truth about ghosts.
The real and the unreal
353:1
The Christianly scientific real is the sensuous unreal.
The Christianly scientific real is the sensuous unreal.
Sin, disease, whatever seems real to material sense, is un-
real in divine Science. The physical senses
and Science have ever been antagonistic, and
they will so continue, till the testimony of the physical
senses yields entirely to Christian Science.
353:7
How can a Christian, having the stronger evidence of
How can a Christian, having the stronger evidence of
Truth which contradicts the evidence of error, think of
the latter as real or true, either in the form of sickness or
of sin? All must admit that Christ is "the way, the
truth, and the life," and that omnipotent Truth certainly
does destroy error.
Superstition obsolete
353:13
The age has not wholly outlived the sense of ghostly
The age has not wholly outlived the sense of ghostly
beliefs. It still holds them more or less. Time has not
yet reached eternity, immortality, complete
reality. All the real is eternal. Perfection
underlies reality. Without perfection, nothing is wholly
real. All things will continue to disappear, until per-
fection appears and reality is reached. We must give up
the spectral at all points. We must not continue to admit
the somethingness of superstition, but we must yield up
all belief in it and be wise. When we learn that error
is not real, we shall be ready for progress, "forgetting
those things which are behind."
353:25
The grave does not banish the ghost of materiality.
The grave does not banish the ghost of materiality.
So long as there are supposed limits to Mind, and those
limits are human, so long will ghosts seem to continue.
Mind is limitless. It never was material. The true idea
of being is spiritual and immortal, and from this it follows
that whatever is laid off is the ghost, some unreal belief.
Mortal beliefs can neither demonstrate Christianity nor
apprehend the reality of Life.