Chapter XI - Some Objections Answered
Two infinite creators absurd
357:1
In common justice, we must admit that God will not
In common justice, we must admit that God will not
punish man for doing what He created man
capable of doing, and knew from the outset
that man would do. God is "of purer eyes
than to behold evil." We sustain Truth, not by accept-
ing, but by rejecting a lie.
357:7
Jesus said of personified evil, that it was "a liar, and
Jesus said of personified evil, that it was "a liar, and
the father of it." Truth creates neither a lie, a capacity
to lie, nor a liar. If mankind would relinquish the belief
that God makes sickness, sin, and death, or makes man
capable of suffering on account of this malevolent triad,
the foundations of error would be sapped and error's de-
struction ensured; but if we theoretically endow mortals
with the creativeness and authority of Deity, how dare we
attempt to destroy what He hath made, or even to deny
that God made man evil and made evil good?
Anthropomorphism
357:17
History teaches that the popular and false notions
History teaches that the popular and false notions
about the Divine Being and character have originated
in the human mind. As there is in reality but
one God, one Mind, wrong notions about God
must have originated in a false supposition, not in im-
mortal Truth, and they are fading out. They are false
claims, which will eventually disappear, according to the
vision of St. John in the Apocalypse.
One supremacy
357:25
If what opposes God is real, there must be two
If what opposes God is real, there must be two
powers, and God is not supreme and infinite. Can
Deity be almighty, if another mighty and
self-creative cause exists and sways man-
kind? Has the Father "Life in Himself," as the Scrip-
tures say, and, if so, can Life, or God, dwell in evil and
create it? Can matter drive Life, Spirit, hence, and so
defeat omnipotence?
Matter impotent
358:1
Is the woodman's axe, which destroys a tree's so-called
Is the woodman's axe, which destroys a tree's so-called
life, superior to omnipotence? Can a leaden bullet de-
prive a man of Life, – that is, of God, who is
man's Life? If God is at the mercy of matter,
then matter is omnipotent. Such doctrines are "confu-
sion worse confounded." If two statements directly con-
tradict each other and one is true, the other must be false.
Is Science thus contradictory?
Scientific and Biblical facts
358:9
Christian Science, understood, coincides with the
Christian Science, understood, coincides with the
Scriptures, and sustains logically and demonstratively
every point it presents. Otherwise it would
not be Science, and could not present its
proofs. Christian Science is neither made up of contra-
dictory aphorisms nor of the inventions of those who scoff
at God. It presents the calm and clear verdict of Truth
against error, uttered and illustrated by the prophets,
by Jesus, by his apostles, as is recorded throughout the
Scriptures.
358:19
Why are the words of Jesus more frequently cited
Why are the words of Jesus more frequently cited
for our instruction than are his remarkable works? Is
it not because there are few who have gained a true
knowledge of the great import to Christianity of those
works?
Personal confidence
358:24
Sometimes it is said; "Rest assured that whatever
Sometimes it is said; "Rest assured that whatever
effect Christian Scientists may have on the sick, comes
through rousing within the sick a belief
that in the removal of disease these healers
have wonderful power, derived from the Holy Ghost."
Is it likely that church-members have more faith in
some Christian Scientist, whom they have perhaps
never seen and against whom they have been warned,
than they have in their own accredited and orthodox