Editorial April 1, 1939 Issue

Denunciation and Renunciation of Error

George Shaw Cook

It is one thing to denounce error and quite another thing to renounce it. The average person, even though a student of Christian Science, finds it much easier to see error in others, and denounce them for being handled by it, than to detect erroneous trends in his own thinking and renounce them; that is, deny their reality. Denunciation of evil may come first, but renunciation should quickly follow. In seeking to help those who are the victims of sin, it is often necessary to uncover and denounce the error before it is destroyed. On page 447 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy says, "Expose and denounce the claims of evil and disease in all their forms, but realize no reality in them."

When Christ Jesus was withstood by certain Jews who had failed to understand the meaning of his words, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," he denounced them as follows: "Ye are of your father the devil. ... When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." He had, however, before uttering this denunciation, renounced any evil heritage on his own part by claiming God as his Father. The entire ministry of Jesus was filled with instances in which he denounced evil and at the same time demonstrated its unreality.

The conditions of evil which exist in the world today are not essentially different from those that existed in the time of Jesus. Mortal mind is the same devil, evil, "liar," whenever and wherever it is found. And, in some of its more aggressive phases, it seems to be very much in evidence in the world today. There are forced upon our attention conditions which are so obviously evil as to be almost appalling. The temptation is, thereofore vehemently to denounce them without taking the further and more important mental step of renunciation. And yet Mrs. Eddy says (ibid., p. 451): "Christian Scientists must live under the constant pressure of the apostolic command to come out from the material world and be separate. They must renounce aggression, oppression and the pride of power."

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