"GOD is a Spirit and They That Worship Him...”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20074, 21 October 1939, Page 12

"GOD is a Spirit and They That Worship Him...”

THE old hymn has it that “The heathen in his blindness bows down to wood and stone.” which, when you come to think of it is, for him, a perfectly natural thing to do. It is not possible for him, any more than it is for anyone else, to think in pure abstracts and so he localises, in one model the sum of his conception of the “Other” —but even he realises that his model is not really his God, but merely represents Him, otherwise there would not. be a practically identical model in the neighbouring huts. He has, if only in a primitive way, realised that “God is Spirit,” which is more than can be said for a great many of his so-called enlightened brethren.

ft has been said that we are living in a material age, an age in which so-called hard-headed business men will not consider anything which cannot be demonstrated. His first question on hearing a proposition is, “Show me if it will work.” He is concerned with facts. The Answer of Science If he is concerned with the “why” or the “wherefore” at all, he turns to science to answer his questions. He has heard about Darwin’s theory of natural selection and is content to leave it at that. This theory smashed for ever his ideas of a spiritual "Other”; it gave him that which he had long been seeking, an explanation of himself which fitted in with his material idea of thing's. He was material in a material world. His search for “The beyond which is within” could now be consummated by improving his material position, and

and purpose in the universe, conceivably a mind superior to his own intended it. He would, in fact, be very near to being able to accept the statement that “God is spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Composition of the Atom

Until radio-activity was discovered the atom was thought to be a solid bit of matter, the smallest thing possible (150,000,000 of them to an inch), incapable of division. Now, we know this to be far from the truth. We know that each atom —it would take 1.000.000,000.000.000.000,000 to fill a box 1-16 of an inch long, broad and high—is really a little solar system of its own.

It is a solemn thought to think that your body, and even the table-leg you stubbed your toe against this morning is really a moving mass of radioactivity and that decay is merely a slowing down or an alteration of the activity. It makes you think, doesn’t it? That is what these articles are for. Think again, God is spirit.

Contributed by the Ministers’ Association

yet, when he “arrived” and was in the position to purchase anything he desired, he still felt an urge; he was not satisfied, he turned to religion, but found it did not square with the proved materialistic conception of science, and so he developed an unsatisfied hopelessness, useless to himself and to mankind generally. Now, if our friend had taken the trouble to keep his reading of science up to date, he would have heard of yet another and later discovery than Darwin’s, namely, Becquerel’s discovery of radio-activity.- He would further have admitted that perhaps the religionists were right after all and that the so-called material world is capable of a spiritual interpretation, and further, if the excitement of this discovery had stimulated his interest he might have reflected that, as mind perceives an apparent order, beauty

All which is real now remaineth, And fadeth never; The hand which upholds it now sustaineth The soul forever.

Leaning on Him, make with reverent meekness His own thy will, And with strength from Him shall thy utter weakness Life’s task fulfil.