Article March 31, 1917 Issue

Permit me to make a few explanatory remarks in regard...

Hans Frey in

Neues Winterthurer (Switzerland) Tageblatt

Permit me to make a few explanatory remarks in regard to an article on Christian Science which appeared recently in your valued paper.

The statements, "Since all is of God, there is no evil in the world," and "There is no evil, no sickness, no poverty, no materiality, and, perhaps, no war in the world," are not Christian Science teachings. If in the place of "in the world" the writer had put, in the kingdom of God, in the divine consciousness, he would have been correct. Moreover, by doing so he would have induced the reader to abandon his material point of view and, like the apostle Paul, to set his affection "on things above, not on things on the earth." This would have enabled the reader to gain an understanding of the subject in question.

The Christian draws a distinction between material belief and absolute reality. He considers as absolutely real only that which is immutatble, and he knows that the immutable cannot be found in the material. When, therefore, he speaks of reality or unreality he does so from this viewpoint, which of course is different from the generally accepted way of thinking; consequently he does not "give his own principle the lie." Similarly, "right thinking" in Christian Science does not coincide with what is generally understood by this term. To the Christian Scientist right thinking means having that Mind "which was also in Christ Jesus;" his whole conception of life rests on the Bible, on the teachings of Jesus and of the apostles. He insists that he adheres to them more strictly than the church in general does; therefore he does not evade the saving work of Christ Jesus, as the writer of the article in question avers, but is more closely connected with it than the church. The question as to whether "suffering, evil, and even sin are a means of education in God's plan of salvation," is answered for him by the apostle James, who says: "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." If space permitted, it could be shown in yet another way, from the standpoint of Christian Science, that the answer to this question must be in the negative.

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