The Pastor's Son

his mother had finished

am ready now to g

eared and said, "I suppose the great question before the class to-night is to decide whether there are one or two creations chronic

now, and if you will allow me, I shall be please

ived at, before he expressed his own opinion, so he readily gave his consent and said, "Speak your mind freely

of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." As he finished reading this verse, he looked at his father and said, "You will notice, father, that the Bible says, 'the Lord God' formed this dust man,

s son to bring out the theory that there were two Gods, as this would be worse than the thought of two creations. "You surely are not trying to bring forth

supreme powers, and that only one is true and real. Will you please look at the verse I have just read? Notice that it uses the words, Lord God, and you will find that this for

id, and was now diligently reading first a verse in cha

you say is true, Walter, and I must admit I never noticed this before, but I cannot see that it changes the narratives any. The author or writer simply changed the name he employed to designate Deity, that is

nge should be made, if it was not don

ain why the change wa

id the pastor, "let us

an good; and as God, who is conceded as being all good, made all, and pronounced all He made good, this dust or material man, being evil, was never made, but, through a misapprehension, we think man to be material, and believe him to be the real man. To illustrate what I mean, say some one told you a falsehood and you believed it to be the truth; then the lie would seem true to you. Nevertheless, because you believe this lie to be the truth, it would not make a truth of it, as it would be a lie still, regardless of your belief. In the same way theologists have made a mistake by thinking that this second creation is the real, and have taught all mankind that they originated from dust and must return to dust, and every one believes this; and because every one believes this mistake, it seems like the truth to all of us, but no matter how many believe a lie, it does not make a

risen to his feet while he was speaking and now he looked from f

lity, that I am sick only in belief, that all any one need do to get well is to find out this truth, that sickness is only an illusion, a lie, which the truth will correct. This must be the truth that Jesus Christ s

f his parents, on his father's face he

me. I also desire that thou show this same truth to my father and mother, and I believe that thou wilt, for thy Son, Jesus Christ, hath said that whatever we desire when we

ther to fear that his son's mind had given way; while the mother thought there was something supernatural about it all, and s

"Sit down, Walter, don't get excited about this question; we will all understand it better after a while." T

ed. She could not see why the pastor wished to discontinue the lesson, for they had only

on; this struck him as so ridiculous that he burst out laughing, more heartily than he had ever done in his life, for he felt better and more free than ever before. But his laughter

e Walter laug

owing husband, wondering what it all meant. At last

father thinks I have gone crazy, and this seemed so

the mother, "did you

ted person would say the things Walter had said, but it certainly

, it would be easier; we only believed, and belief is never absolute conviction, and can more readily be changed. I read a parable to-day that I think will explain what I mean. Jesus said, 'you cannot add any more to a cask already full.' So it is with father; his mind is filled so full of the present idea of God and this material creation, that there cannot enter anything different

ance such a chimerical idea, and claim it to be the truth, as you have done. I see I have made a mistake in allowing you to question the Bible. Hereafter, I shall read from the Bible and explain it as we proceed, but I will not allow any more comments to be made. In regard to this question of creation, we will consider that closed for the present, and in the near future, proba

liver a thorough sermon on creation, he would be compelled to carefully study Genesis, and Walter believed enough had been said to make his father doubt the second narrative. He felt like saying, "I don't believe you wil

l of us be as well versed on the Bible as your fathe

hat I continue to study Genes

is evening, and it might be well for you to review what we have passed o

de his father and mother good night, and ascend

he was always speaking of his sickness, and complaining of being weak, he now never refers to his trouble, nor does he complain of being tired any more. And what is mo

hat he is getting better, and in his great enthusiasm he ascribes his healing t

t assertion about his never having been sick in reality, and that there is no evil; haven't we had the best physicians in the country, and didn't they sa

to me that when he was speaking he seemed to glow with a heavenly radiance, and

ing kept up much longer he would be demented himself; what was the matter wi

as killed in a railroad disaster, you would certainly feel sorrowful, and you would say you felt that way because your brother was killed. Now if in the morning your brother should step in the house perfectly well, your sorrow would flee. This would prove that your sorrow was not caused by the death of your brother, but simply because you believed him dead; so it was the beli

hought ourselves sick and believed what we thought, this would make it seem true to us, though in fact, it was not true. I believe it is just as Walter put it. If we believe a

s plain, but sickness is not a lie o

le to stretch the imagination so as to say that sickness, or even death, might be good under certain conditions; but no Christian would agree with you that sin was good. And i

re reasonable it seems, and I cannot get the idea out of my

ll these other material things come from? If we admit that the second creation is of God, then God, in a sense, would be responsible for all the trials and tribulations of man, for God is all-powerful and could have made us better, even to perfection. Now that I think of it, I don't believe the Bible mentions anywhere that G

he truth, and I know that when you get into a calmer frame of mind you will readily find it; don't you

very doubtful whether I will be able to find what I want even there, for I have often noticed that when a man once b

ife; "you are too firm a believer in Go

I have preached the gospel from the standpoint of this second or dust creation. In fact, I could not preach otherwise, as it would be

material body, don't we have to f

ct, and in that case we could not possibly have a material body, but only think we have, and because we believe what we think, it would seem so to us. Wif

for you have done little else all your life but study the Bible. At any rate, let it rest fo

king deeply, and the more he thought the more firmly he believed that Walter was right in his conclusions that the first narrative was the true one. Then the thought came; if thi

ght before he fina

was the true narrative; he had fully satisfied himself in regard to this. What he was