Article June 8, 1918 Issue

The Problem of Evil Solved

CLARENCE W. CHADWICK

The inscrutable problem of evil still engages the thought of philosopher and religionist, and must continue to do so until the demonstration of Christian healing comes to the rescue with its proof of the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, good. Human reasoning, if humble enough to concede the all-power and presence of God, may lead thought to the foot of the mountain, but it cannot scale the steep heights of spiritual discernment and attainment. Demonstration alone can do this. Until some faint gleam of spiritual light dawns upon human consciousness, the vexatious problem of evil will seem mountain high; and worldly wisdom will be found contending for the reality and continuity of that which denies the power and presence of God.

Christian Science to-day would have no vital message to the world did it not offer the one and only solution of this problem of evil. Scholastic theology may scoff at such a statement, but the indisputable facts are here to confirm, beyond all question of doubt, the soundness of Christian Science doctrine. When the so-called incurable sick and sinful come to Christian Science for help, and when, upon no other basis than that of the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, they are completely relieved of their burdens, and are mentally, morally, and spiritually quickened to discern the risen Christ-idea, there is just one reasonable conclusion at which to arrive, and that is that the hand of God is in the demonstration. No honest man or woman can question the proof of Christian Science healing after once having experienced it, and after having gained an understanding of Principle, the basic truth upon which such healing has been accomplished. The demonstration of healing, in its broadest sense, is the one and only answer that will ever be given concerning the why and wherefore of evil. However difficult may seem the problem of evil in its manifold phases, the only remedy for it is the obliteration of its seeming existence in human consciousness. Christian Science undertakes to accomplish this very thing, and it asks only to be judged by its fruits.

The occasional spasmodic attempts to belittle the claim that Christian Science is Christlike because it does the works which Christ Jesus did, are almost, without exception, frenzied efforts to bolster up the contention that evil is everywhere present, and that it is sometimes even more powerful than good. Is it not amazing to see how passionately the rank and file of professing Christians will argue for the reality and permanency of evil when challenged by the practical demonstration of Christian Science healing! Why indulge in ill-tempered epithets against Christian Science any more than against the record of the New Testament, which abounds with cases of healing performed by the Master and by his followers, in proof of the fact that they had compassed the solution of the problem of evil?

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