Article January 14, 1933 Issue

Redistribution

GORDON V. COMER

Although "redistribution" is a word frequently heard, its current use may be confusing, because the usual thought about it is based on the premise that substance is material, and on its subsequent that in order to bring out a right sense of social order and balance a redistribution of material things upon a basis of complete material equality must be effected.

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 468) Mary Baker Eddy writes: "Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay. Truth, Life, and Love are substance, as the Scriptures use this word in Hebrews: 'The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.'" Only that which God creates is substantial. Inasmuch as God, Spirit, made all, and could not possibly have made anything unlike Himself, substance is spiritual, not material. God, Spirit, is infinite; therefore spiritual substance is unlimited; but that which expresses belief in materiality is limited. Regardless of how much matter there may seem to be, it still expresses limited belief. This fact has been proved during the last few years of economic upheaval. Material fortunes of individuals and of corporations which had been considered impregnable have crumbled away. Surely, it is not a distribution of that which is so fleeting for which mankind is yearning! If it is, then certainly men need to do a little mental stocktaking and ask themselves the reason for the wish.

Redistribution is thought by some to be a proper means of bringing about economic balance. Proponents of this theory base their arguments upon the false premise that substance consists of material things. But when one glimpses the great fact taught by Christian Science that substance is not material but spiritual, his outlook undergoes a great change. He begins to realize that, inasmuch as "God is no respecter of persons," there is no more of good provided for one of God's children than for another; that there is no more of good in one place than in another, nor at one time than at another; hence, he must reason from an altogether different point of view. Therefore he no longer yields to the temptation to compare his material situation with that of another who appears to be much more pleasantly and fortunately stationed. He does not allow himself to be used by the suggestion that he has not had a fair chance in life, or that the trouble is more with the world than with him. He learns that God's goodness is without limit, that man's heritage of good is not a limited part of a limited whole, but that his heritage of good is as infinite as Love itself. Since, in reality, good is ever present, without respect to persons, conditions, or time, infinite, and always available, there is actually no need for redistribution. God's love for all of His children is indicated in the words of the father to the brother of the prodigal son, "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine."

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