Article August 6, 1921 Issue

"The way of Life"

EDMUND R. CUMMINS

HUMAN experience has always seemingly been at the mercy of dangers and difficulties of one kind and another, and mankind is ever asking why this is so. The formal Christian religions under the influence and domination of scholastic theological dogma, in response to this query point to the second chapter of Genesis for the answer, regarding this story, as it does, of the fall of man and his dismissal from Paradise as a historical fact, and concluding that a creature so full of ingratitude as to disobey the command of his benefactor well deserves all the punishment possible to be inflicted upon him by God.

Unfortunately, those who believe that God created a sinful mortal are by such a theory placing the entire responsibility upon God for all the evil which is apparent to human consciousness, and thereby exonerate mankind from all blame either for the origination or perpetuation of evil in every form; for while they agree that God had the power to create a perfect man, they consent to the suggestion that He did not do so, but instead created a man capable of committing sin, well knowing that he would commit sin. Indeed, in order to be considered entirely guilty, He must have invented sin, otherwise it would have to be acknowl edged that sin existed prior to the creation, in which case man could not have been held responsible for it in any event. Furthermore, it is obvious that in order to have created man capable of sinning, as the theologians contend God did, God Himself must have been conscious of sin, in the face of the Scriptural statement, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity."

In this theological dilemma and upon the troubled waters of this stormy sea we gain a vision of the Christ through the understanding imparted to us in Christian Science, and if we have the courage to discard the garment of ancient dogma which is likely to shackle our free movement, and cast ourselves into the water understandingly we shall feel His protection arm and hear the encouraging words, "Be not afraid." On page 330 of the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, we find these words, "Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power," and we arrive at the immediate conclusion that since this is so, God knows nothing of it, as He can be cognizant only of that which is, not that which merely seems to be to human consciousness, which must therefore be the only place where sin seems to exist. Now any one who stops to consider the matter for one moment will agree that if the thought of evil were eradicated entirely from the only place where it seems to exist, it would be proved not to exist anywhere, and there would be nothing left of it, and if this truism is acknowledged to be so as regards evil in general, the same thing must necessarily apply to such specific evils as poverty, sickness, and death. But it may be asked, If there is no such thing, why is there any such word as evil? Just for the same reason that there is such a word as cipher, for there is in Science a very close analogy between the words cipher and evil. The former is used to denote nothing, or the absence of a number, whether it is written or spoken, which is, of course, a pure fiction of the imagination, as there is never a lack of numbers; they are always present and instantly available when they are wanted, while evil suggests the absence of good, which is equally fictitious, for we know that Principle, the divine Mind, is ever present and available.

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