Christian Science Unscriptural
By Walter K. Williams
IN his article in the State Journal of Nebraska, "Answering the Adventists," Mr. Royal D. Stearns says that "the material body and carnal mind represent a false sense of man, that must be cast out by the knowledge of the absolute truth." Over against this statement of untruth, we affirm that man has a material body and a carnal mind. And it is the Christian Scientist who has a false sense, which prevents him from believing it. Proofs that man has a material body are: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." Gen. 2:7. "And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman." Gen. 2:22. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. 3:19. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Eccl. 12:7. "There is a natural body." 1 Cor. 15:44. Proof that man has a carnal mind is: "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8: 6, 7. God purposes to change the carnal mind of man into the spiritual mind, by conversion, through the incoming and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Mr. Stearns affirms positively that no evil exists. He argues that since God is perfect, all His creation must be and remain perfect. He says, "Perfection does not contain imperfection." As proof of his theory, he quotes the scripture, "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." We agree with Mr. Stearns that no evil existed while all "was very good." But man soon brought about a mighty change in the world, and "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Gen. 6:5. "And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." Gen. 6:12. Mr. Stearns, in his futile efforts to prove the non-existence of matter and of evil, says that it is a false sense of man which leads him to believe that he has a material body and the carnal mind; both of which are truths plainly taught in the Word of God. He believes what God saw when all "was very good," but refuses to credit what God saw afterward, when "the wickedness of man was great in the earth." No one should be willing to stand with Mr. Stearns in this false, unscriptural position.