Article July 30, 1932 Issue

No Fluctuation in Truth

E. HOWARD HOOPER

Christian Science offers to those who are distressed because of depleting material values a message of hope and assurance in the eternality and unchanging nature of God and of all that is true or real. It turns thought away from materiality to the contemplation of spiritual ideas, which reveal the permanency of all that really exists. It unfolds the true nature of substance as that which partakes of the quality and nature of God, divine Mind. In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, we read (p. 468), "Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay;" also, "The spiritual universe, including individual man, is a compound idea, reflecting the divine substance of Spirit." Substance, therefore, is not material and is not subject to fluctuation; it is spiritual and remains immutable.

There is, however, evidence on every hand of the world's belief in the material fluctuation and destruction of what it considers real. We see this manifested in changes of climate, business conditions, health. Philosophy and false views of theology have perpetuated the belief in change and decay, and have regarded these as part of God's plan and purpose. On the other hand, Christian Science declares that because God is infinite good, the same yesterday, today, and forever, these changes are not ordained of Him and are not in harmony with His laws. The Psalmist realized the unchangeable nature of God when he said: "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. ... Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." And the Apostle James declared, "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."

Spiritual ideas reflect true substance—Spirit, God—and they are, therefore, not subject to chance, change, or dissolution. They are not governed by circumstance, place, or condition, since they flow continually and ceaselessly from divine Mind, their source. "Spiritual ideas," writes Mrs. Eddy on page 298 of Science and Health, "like numbers and notes, start from Principle, and admit no materialistic beliefs. Spiritual ideas lead up to their divine origin, God, and to the spiritual sense of being." As mortals begin to grasp these spiritual ideas which reflect God, thus gaining the true concept of man and the universe, they come into possession of that which is lastingly satisfying, unchanging, eternal, and truly substantial. The student of Christian Science early learns that in order to demonstrate in his daily affairs the ceaseless activity of good, which destroys the belief of fluctuation, he must constantly deny any reality in evil; and this he does by knowing the allness of God. Thus he obeys the Scriptural injunction to "hold fast that which is good."

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