Article March 6, 1915 Issue

Christian Science explains the life and words and work of...

Duncan Sinclair

Dalbeattie Stewartry (Scotland) Observer

Christian Science explains the life and words and work of Jesus the Christ, and shows how his teachings are as practicable today as when he walked the Galilean shore, healing the sick and the sinning. It proves that Jesus did his wonderful acts through an exact knowledge of spiritual law, knowledge which nullified so-called material law, under which humanity suffered and was held in bondage then as now. Not only so, but it instructs whoever will in this knowledge, so that it becomes as available in our day as in his, or in that of the early church.

When the lawyer tempted Jesus with the question, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" our Lord's answer was, "Thou shalt love the Love thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." This reply centers around God; and if we have fallacious notions about the nature of God, our obedience to Him is bound to be equally faulty. Christian Science declares, without reservation, that God is infinite Mind, or Spirit, and that He is infinitely or altogether good; and this, it may be urged, all Christians would admit. But Christian Science holds that, to be logical, since God is infinitely good and since He is omnipotent, no other power has ever existed to create evil; hence evil is unreal in the light of the absolute truth about God. If God had created evil, or allowed it to be created as an entity, it would be a part of His consciousness, and so eternal.

Christian Scientists, however, do not shut their eyes to the tremendous hold that evil appears to have over mortals who believe in its reality. They are well aware that to many it seems to be far more real than good; but they also know that all the power it ever seemed to possess was the power mortals themselves gave it in belief; it certainly, since God is infinitely good, has no God-given power. It is only when God is understood to be infinite good, and evil in consequence is seen to be mere belief and not reality, that Jesus' command above quoted becomes possible of obedience. When we so understand Him, we perceive the truth of the statement in the first chapter of Genesis to the effect that God's creation was "very good." God's creation must be like Himself—spiritual. Hence man, man created by God in His image and likeness, is also spiritual; so that the real man, our neighbor, he who lives and moves and has his being in God, must be good. Thus is revealed the manner whereby the master Metaphysician's wonderful summary of the law, so simply stated, may be put into the practice of every-day life.

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