Article April 20, 1935 Issue

Our Alibi

JAMES R. M. BUTLER

The primary meaning of the word "devil" is slanderer, false accuser; and in the Apocalypse Satan, or the devil, is referred to as "the accuser of our brethren." Christian Science teaches us how suitable this name is for the lie known as evil, and explains what is the nature of its slanderous accusation.

"From the beginning," writes Mrs. Eddy, referring to the belief in matter (Unity of Good, p. 36), "this lie was the false witness against the fact that Spirit is All, beside which there is no other existence." The lie alleges that, on the contrary, there are life and substance in matter, and that from matter there is evolved man—a creature whose actions and thoughts proceed from a material structure called body, a structure localized in space and limited in extent and durability. It alleges further that the existence of this creature began at a particular moment in time and will assuredly end; that in the meantime he is liable, in accordance with certain laws of physiology and psychology, to suffer in all sorts of ways, bodily and mental. These allegations are supported by the evidence of the material senses and appear convincing to the human so-called mind, which believes itself dependent on a material substance in the skull, called brain, and knows of no testimony underived from the five senses. Such evidence is, however, flatly rejected by Christian Science, which, on the contrary testimony of spiritual sense, declares man to be spiritual, and so perfect and immortal.

In Chapter XII of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy presents an illustration, in allegorical form, of how Christian Science, as counsel and advocate, defends "Mortal Man" against the accusations of "Personal Sense." And indeed the practice of Christian Science is simply a continuous denial of aggressive mental suggestions, and their replacement by the ideas of Truth. Let us consider one method of such reversal which has been found useful. When in a court of law an innocent man is accused of an offense which he has not committed, he can produce no sounder defense than an alibi, a proof that he was somewhere else at the moment of the alleged crime. But to be effective, the alibi must cover the entire period during which the crime might have been committed, and it must rest on unimpeachable evidence. Such a defense, Christian Science teaches us, is always available against the slanders of the accuser.

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