Article October 25, 1919 Issue

Our critic says, "We do not dispute for a minute as to...

Willard J. Welch

Mallard (Iowa) Independent

Our critic says, "We do not dispute for a minute as to the healings that Christian Science claims, because if the devil can oppress he can lift the oppression." Healings are undeniably good. According to Scripture: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Either the Bible, therefore, is not true, or the quotation from our critic is not true. Jesus asked, "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"

Our critic further says, "We admit that God did not create the devil, but He did make an angel that made a devil out of himself." The Bible teaches that God made everything, and "saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Is there anything in good out of which evil could be made? God is wholly good. Habakkuk says: "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity," hence God could not have made a devil nor anything out of which a devil could be made.

Evil or devil can be only the supposititious opposite of good—a belief which Truth destroys. Belief, of itself, is nothing. If proved true it ceases to be a belief, and if proved false it disappears. Its seeming power is the counterfeit of Truth. Evil is the child of ignorance. It thrives in darkness, but vanishes with the light. Jesus taught this, for he came to destroy the works of darkness. He could not destroy one iota of reality, yet the Bible tells us he came to destroy "him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, we read on page 186, "If evil is as real as good, evil is also as immortal." When therefore our friend says, "If there is no devil, then Jesus had no mission," it is plain that he fails to understand the mission of our Master.

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