Article April 26, 1919 Issue

Christian Science teaches that evil is unreal because it...

Clyde Johnson

Lander (Wyo.) Post

Christian Science teaches that evil is unreal because it is not of divine origin, and this teaching is based squarely upon the Scriptures, which are emphatic in the declaration that God made everything and saw that it was good. The attempt, in a recent issue, to ridicule this teaching does not in the least affect the facts. The contention that the "evil thing referred to is real," meaning the war and discordant conditions which have developed from it, is in direct opposition to the passage in Habakkuk, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity."

Over a long period of time humanity has been gradually learning that it cannot depend upon what it thinks it sees or knows. Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 252), "When false human beliefs learn even a little of their own falsity, they begin to disappear." There was a time when every one believed the earth was flat; but the time came when the fact of its rotundity became apparent, and then it did not take any particular acumen to discern that it had always been round and never would be flat the false evidence of the human vision to the contrary notwithstanding. So, too, there was a long period of time when every one believed that evil was of divine origin and therefore real; but the time came when the truth was revealed through Mrs. Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, who proved to humanity the reality and permanence of good and the consequent unreality of evil. It then very naturally came to light that evil never had been and never could be real.

Mrs. Eddy says, "It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony" (Science and Health, p. 390). Considering all things in the light of reason and revelation, strict regard for the truth compels us to deny the testimony of the physical senses, whether it takes the form of a belief in the reality of a boil or a belief that the earth is flat. The truth dispels the illusion in either case. On page 297 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy says: "Erroneous belief is destroyed by truth. Change the evidence, and that disappears which before seemed real to this false belief, and the human consciousness rises higher."

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