Editorial September 7, 1912 Issue

ERROR UNREAL

Annie M. Knott

It is now very well known that the fundamental proposition of Mrs. Eddy's teaching is the declaration of the allness of God, good, which by its very nature forces us to accept the conclusion that evil is unreal, whether manifested as sin or disease. Respecting this she says, "Truth is intelligent; error is non-intelligent. Moreover, Truth is real, and error is unreal. This last statement contains the point you will most reluctantly admit, although first and last it is the most important to understand" (Science and Health, p. 466).

The very fact that this teaching calls forth such bitter antagonism on the part of mortal mind shows that it is a vital truth which should never be lost sight of in our work whether for ourselves or others. The argument of the outsider is, that Christian Scientists declare error to be nothing and that then mortals feel themselves at liberty to pursue and possess nothing to their hearts' content. The absurdity of such a position is surely self-evident to the thinker, but there are many who do not pause to find out that from the standpoint of Christian Science nothing is real but that which is of God and which expresses the divine nature; and this is no mere theory, but is the vital truth which underlies the words and works of Christ Jesus, and which makes possible today the demonstrations of divine power that characterized his ministry.

The student of Christian Science begins his demonstrations, first in knowing and proving that disease is unreal because it has no relation to the being of God or of man as His likeness; that it is not a manifestation of Life or of Mind, and that, being a mere negation, it ever tends toward self-destruction. Here it may be said that if this were more clearly understood, and more constantly kept before thought, the allness of God, good, would be more quickly realized and demonstrated. The healing of disease by means of this truth, then leads to the overcoming of sin, which seems a more difficult problem, although the churches have for long centuries neglected the former, so far as spiritual means are concerned, and have attempted to deal with the problem of sin by admitting that it is real,—a concrete factor of existence,—and this quite oblivious of the fact that such an admission is a virtual denial of the allness of God, the absoluteness and all-inclusiveness of good.

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