Article June 27, 1908 Issue

TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT EVIL

SAMUEL GREENWOOD.

Christian Science does not take up the discussion of the human belief of evil because evil has any valid claim upon mortals' attention, but because this belief asserts a reality opposition to good, and because its falsity must be recognized in order to apprehend the allness of God. Therefore the attention which Christian Science gives to the explanation of the phenomena of evil is not because evil is something, but because the belief that it is something obscures the human recognition and utilization of the all-power of good. Christian Science teaches and demonstrates that God is the divine Principle or origin of all reality, and this truth when understood corrects the erroneous belief, so generally entertained, that there is a creative power and intelligence apart from Him. "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, makes plain and practical the statement of the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, and experience has proved that through the demonstration or practice of this teaching, evil conditions are overcome and human suffering alleviated or destroyed.

It is logically clear that one cannot make the statement that God is infinite, without declaring in effect that evil is not anything; for the premise that God is All is in itself a denial that aught else is. This does not, however, imply, as some assume, that the sense of evil inheres in or pertains to the divine creation, but that the belief of evil is wholly supposititious. The familiar illustration of light and darkness simplifies the relationship in human consciousness of good and evil, for however evident darkness may seem to material sense, every one understands that it is merely an appearance, that it represents absence and not presence, that of itself it is nothing, that it cannot be touched or measured or weighed. It has been claimed of evil that it is equally real with good, yet even human experience contradicts this claim in its realization that where the sense of good is, there is no evil at all, as truly as that where light is. there is not even an appearance of darkness.

The whole question, therefore, so far as the individual is concerned, hinges on the extent to which good pervades his consciousness. But while light and darkness aptly illustrate the difference between good and evil, this illustration, if it rests upon a material view of things, does not present a perfect parallel with good and evil. To material sense the bounds of light are thought of as more or less circumscribed, thus admitting that there may be a place where darkness reigns; but with good and evil the problem rises to the plane of the infinite. Is or is not the Supreme Being universally present? The correct answer to this question must be the premise from which to conclude the reality or unreality of aught besides God.

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