Article April 29, 1939 Issue

The Meaning of Omnipresence

HAROLD C. LEWIS

Many centuries ago the Psalmist said, implying that God is ever present, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" Spiritually-minded men in all ages have believed in the omnipresence of God. Moses and the prophets did many wonderful works through their understanding of God's omnipresence. Our beloved Master, with his greater understanding of God's allness and of the spiritual man's unity with God, healed the sick, raised the dead, and fed the multitude. During the dark ages this spiritual power was temporarily lost, but it reappeared with the advent of Christian Science, which is based on an understanding of the allness of God, and which shows what His omnipresence really means.

Mary Baker Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 466): "Omni is adopted from the Latin adjective signifying all. Hence God combines all-power or potency, all-science or true knowledge, all-presence." Mrs. Eddy grasped the significant fact that God's omnipresence must mean the absence of, the utter nothingness of, everything that is unlike God. She saw that if anything unlike God, good, seems to be present, this is but an illusion or false belief of the carnal mind, which the right understanding of God's allness destroys. Christian Science teaches the necessity for an understanding of God and of man in His likeness. We must understand God's omnipresence and the unreality of sin, disease, and death, in order to obey the Master's command to preach the gospel and heal the sick.

Since God, good, is ever present, filling all space, there is no place for evil to occupy. Our beloved Leader writes (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 102, 103): "Science defines omnipresence as universality, that which precludes the presence of evil. This verity annuls the testimony of the senses, which say that sin is an evil power, and substance is perishable." Evil is illusion or false belief. It may seem to be present, but it has no actuality. For example, a sleeper dreams that he sees terrible animals in dreadful surroundings. These objects are present only as dream-images. They take up no space. They are not present materially. So all evil is illusion, having no presence or reality.

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The Track Meet
April 29, 1939
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