Article June 2, 1923 Issue

Evil has from the beginning desired only to be let alone

Douglas L. Edmonds, Committee on Publication for Southern California,—Bakersfield

Californian

Evil has from the beginning desired only to be let alone. For it is apparent that if God is All-in-all and has made everything that was made, evil can only claim to have power. That claim can only be maintained if evil is let alone; for the realization that there can be no power opposed to God immediately strips evil of any ability to claim itself to be something. To ignore evil, however, is to lay one's self open to the danger of being subject to its false claims. Hence Christian Scientists endeavor to know evil for what it is,—nothing claiming to be something, a false supposition which can be overcome through knowing the truth concerning God and the real man's relation to Him. It is necessary to know the reasons why evil cannot have power, in order to prove the illusion of its pretensions. A lie passes for the truth only so long as the truth is not known. Ignoring the lie does not show its falsity, but only provides opportunity for its continuing the deception. The remedy is to expose the lie by showing the truth. Thus Christian Scientists are not ignoring evil but, on the contrary, exposing it by showing what the Bible teaches about God, good. As Mary Baker Eddy puts it on page 447 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Expose and denounce the claims of evil and disease in all their forms, but realize no reality in them. A sinner is not reformed merely by assuring him that he cannot be a sinner because there is no sin. To put down the claim of sin, you must detect it, remove the mask, point out the illusion, and thus get the victory over sin and so prove its unreality."

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