The Pastors Son | Page 9

only the soul that is in the body that is here spoken of as the image and likeness of God."
"Then God did not make our bodies, did He, father?"
"Why, certainly He did. Have you never read that God made all that was made?"
"It doesn't say anything in that verse about God's making a body does it father?"
"No but it says 'in His image and likeness,' that means just like Him," said the pastor.
"Then if I am just like Him, He in turn must be just like me, and in that case God would have a material body, and would not be wholly spirit."
"Why son, what queer ideas you have. As I said before this verse is only speaking of the soul; you will see farther on where He created the body. Now let us proceed."
"Father, what is meant by that part of this same verse, where it reads: 'And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air,' etc.?"
"There has been considerable differences of opinion in regard to that passage. Personally, I think it means that we will have this dominion after we die and enter the spirit world, for we certainly haven't dominion over the fish and fowl here."
"James, do you think there will be fish and fowl in heaven?" meekly asked his wife.
"That is a very absurd question. Everybody knows there will be no fish and fowl in heaven," said her husband.
"Then how can we have dominion over them if there are none there?" asked his wife.
"It seems to me that you are both very dense this evening. Let us continue and these things will clear up as we proceed," said the pastor, a little nettled at his inability to answer their questions clearly.
Walter had several more questions he wanted to ask on this subject, but he thought best not to ask too many at one time.
There was no more interruption until the pastor reached Genesis 1, 31st verse--"_and God saw everything He had made, and behold it was very good, and the evening and the morning were the 6th day_." Here Walter interrupted with, "Then everything that God made was good."
"Yes, everything that God made was good," answered the pastor.
"If that be true, God could not have made me sick, for sickness is not good," said Walter.
"Walter, I believe you are right," said his mother.
The pastor looked from one to the other, then slowly laid the Bible down in his lap. He was surprised at the turn the conversation had taken, and he remembered that Walter had on a previous occasion said something similar. Just what would be the best answer to make he did not know, so thought he would ask Walter a few questions, and in this way find out what the boy had on his mind. So he asked, "What makes you so positive that God did not make you sick Walter?"
"Because God is good and just, and I am His child, and the Bible says He made everything good and He made everything that was made, so everything must be good. Besides, I cannot conceive of a just God making me suffer for a sin some one else committed, any more than I could think of you, father, punishing me for something that our neighbor's boy had done."
Like a flash the pastor saw now what the boy had meant when he spoke of sending him to jail because some one else had stolen some chickens. The boy was only trying to illustrate to him the injustice of punishing one person for the deeds of another. Then the thought came, "Shall man be more just than God?" There was something here he did not understand, and yet the Bible said God made everything that was made. If this be true, He was the author of all the sorrows and woes, as well as the joys, of the human race.
Now that he had got to thinking on this subject, he did not like to admit even to himself that God was the creator of all the wickedness of the world. He decided he must have more time to think about this before he could answer the boy, so said, "We know that God is good and just, and some of the things that to us seem evil and unjust may still be for our good." He then picked up the Bible to proceed with his reading.
Walter noticed that his father was ill at ease and decided not to ask any more questions at present. The pastor then read Genesis 2, 1st verse: _"Thus the heavens and earth were finished and all the hosts of them."_ He now cast an anxious look over at Walter, expecting him to ask some question that would be as hard to answer as