Editorial June 1, 1929 Issue

Consent and Dissent

Violet Ker Seymer

In his warfare against evil, the Christian Scientist is constantly called upon to consent to Truth and to dissent from error. One cannot simultaneously agree with and yield to both Truth and error, and the Christian Scientist prayerfully enlists all his efforts on the side of Truth. Therefore he heeds the Psalmist's warning, "When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him." As understood in Christian Science, a thief is a discordant suggestion of the so-called carnal mind, presuming to rob one of his divine birthright of harmony.

Starting from the premise of perfect God and perfect man, the Christian Scientist is learning to withhold his consent from the various discords which, through the evidence of the physical senses, seem perpetually to be paraded for his acceptance. How comforting it is to know that the divine Mind requires and empowers one to dissent from sin and suffering, anxiety and despair, and to consent only to the good, derived from God! Mrs. Eddy states in "Christian Science versus Pantheism" (pp. 7, 8), "The hypothesis of mind in matter, or more than one Mind, lapses into evil dominating good, matter governing Mind, and makes sin, disease, and death inevitable, despite of Mind, or by the consent of Mind!" To give one's consent only to the decrees of God, good, would go far in emancipating mankind from the yoke of evil and suffering; and it should always be remembered that evil and all its consequences rest only upon a material hypothesis.

The teaching of Christian Science is undeceiving mortals; but this teaching, to be proved efficient in individual experience, requires faithful cooperation on the part of every student. Hence, if the thief of inertia should suggest that one cannot rouse himself, cannot think truly, the Christian Scientist dissents, and turns to God for inspiration and renewed fidelity, knowing that God equips His witness with spiritual strength to win the holy fight. At no point should the Christian Scientist who is seeking to bear witness to the perfection of God and man allow himself to be deceived by the evidence of the physical senses. Understanding this, the wise man said, "If sinners entice thee, consent thou not."

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