Article May 6, 1916 Issue

In a published sermon are some statements which indicate...

Henry Van Arsdale

Pasadena (Cal.) Star

In a published sermon are some statements which indicate the difficulty men face in the endeavor to reconcile the presence of evil, or sin, in a world created by a wholly good God. This difficulty has always faced mankind, and in the endeavor to solve it there has been produced a vast volume of literature. Indeed it may be said that the intellectual efforts of the human race to solve this problem have resulted in the production of a greater number of books than have been produced on any other subject. There are but two positions which can be taken in this matter, and a choice must be made between the two. Either God created and permits evil and sin, in which case sin is eternal and unescapable, or else God did not create it, does not know of it, cannot be said to permit it, and therefore man can free himself from it.

It may be of interest to many of the readers of the Star to know of the position of Christian Science as to the reality or actuality of evil and sin. Christian Science teaches that God made all that was made; that what God has made is real and true and eternal; that this creation is wholly good, and contains nothing which does not partake of the nature or attributes of God. Christian Science teaches that the whole arena of the seeming activity of sin is in the human mind, and that a sinful act is the result of sinful or wrong thought; that the thought always precedes the act, and therefore the remedy for sin is a correction of the thought which produces sin.

The Christian Scientist does not ignore sin, but in his denial of it he means that he refuses to admit the truth of any statement that sin is real because it emanates from God, or that God is in any way responsible for sin. It will be noted, therefore, that this denial is based on the positive affirmation that sin can be no part of the nature or creation of God. The Christian Scientist does not assume from this that he is a better man than his neighbor; he only knows that as contrasted with his own past he is better man because of the teachings of Christian Science. He does not compare himself with other individuals; he only compares his present experiences with his past experiences.

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