Article July 8, 1911 Issue

THE ELIMINATION OF EVIL

NEWTON C. GILLHAM.

THE elimination of evil can but mean the destruction of sin, sickness, disease, of mortal mind and every material thing. Everything that is opposed to God, good, everything differing from infinite Mind, the sole and only creator, is outside the realm of the true, the real; is not of Spirit, and consequently is numbered with the seeming, the unreal. That which is positive is real, that which is negative is unreal. So in the elimination of evil we do not have a positive or real quality to deal with, but a negation only. When we prove that everything outside of God is unreal, its elimination is no longer the herculean task that it has appeared to be to those not in Christian Science.

The statements in the opening paragraphs of the first chapter of the gospel of St. John, which imply that "God is All," are the lever that may be used to lift a world of doubt from those tangled in the web of uncertainty. Let us take for our fulcrum the third verse: "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." This expresses a wisdom which is wiser than the great teacher of physics who said, "Give me a lever long enough, and a place to put the fulcrum, and I will lift the world." In the fourth chapter this beloved disciple, who was nearer to Jesus than any of the twelve, states that "God is a Spirit." In the Revised Version this is rendered, "God is Spirit," a much more acceptable interpretation and one that lends a tower of strength in proving the allness of God; and this statement we shall use for the long-sought place to put the aforementioned fulcrum.

Now since God is All, all must be whatever God is, and whatever the world, creation, aye, the universe may contain, whatever the component parts may be, whatever substance therein is, it cannot be different from, and in the nature of things must be, whatever God is; and if that which is of God's world, creation, or universe differs in one iota from what God is, then it is without the pale of what is,—is not like God, hence is not. If it were otherwise, God would not be infinite. Since "all things were made by him [God]," and in view of the fact that "God is All," then all things are not only made by God, but are made in and of God. By pondering these things we are led to see more clearly what Paul meant when he said, "For in him [God] we live, and move, and have our being." So we are not to think simply of God as being the only creator, but that all things are constituted in and of His manifestation.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

THE ELIMINATION OF EVIL

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access