Article July 1, 1939 Issue

The Light of Truth

THEODORA R. BENFIELD

While driving to Sunday school one lovely, sunny morning, a student of Christian Science passed a large billboard on which were depicted three figures. The entire poster was brilliantly lighted, except the head of the largest figure, which was in such deep shadow that it appeared to be missing. The effect was startling, but the student quickly saw that the dark shadow was cast by an electric light fixture which acted as an obstruction, preventing the sunlight from reaching this particular spot on the picture. Instantly the thought came, "Why, that is a splendid illustration of the truth about all seeming imperfection!" And as the subject of the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly that Sunday was, "Are Sin, Disease, and Death Real?" the student welcomed the inspiration and unfoldment thus gained, and used it in teaching her class that morning.

On page 10 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy has written: "Experience teaches us that we do not always receive the blessings we ask for in prayer. There is some misapprehension of the source and means of all goodness and blessedness, or we should certainly receive that for which we ask." Is it not, then, the misapprehension which obstructs the light and might of Truth and Love? The pernicious belief that God sends sickness, suffering, calamity, death, and other forms of discord to His children, as a means of discipline and punishment, is a misapprehension of Deity which for centuries has brought misery to humanity. Ignorance of the nature of God, infinite Love, and the cruel, unjust practices arising therefrom, have caused not only the dense shadows of religious intolerance and persecution down through the ages, but also the resignation to suffering and privation because of the generally accepted belief that these are according to God's will, and must be endured uncomplainingly. What a flood of light and joy reaches individual consciousness when these obstructing misconceptions are removed through the teaching of Christian Science, and those on whom these shadows have fallen learn the falsity of them, learn that God's will is always the will of Love, the Love which, as our Leader says (ibid., p. 13), is "impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals"!

Let us consider a few of the erroneous beliefs which cast their shadows upon our pathway today. The belief of insufficiency or lack is perhaps one of the commonest. This belief derives its seeming power and prevalence not only from a "misapprehension of the source and means of all goodness and blessedness," but also from a misconception of the nature of substance. When matter is believed to be substance, something that must be acquired, possessed, and accumulated, then follows the belief that one can be in need of it. But when Mind, expressed in spiritual ideas and qualities, is found to be the only substance, the ever-present, indestructible source of supply, and when one learns that no material circumstance or condition ever affects true substance, and that our understanding of it increases with use, then fear of loss and insufficiency disappears. The urge to hoard and accumulate matter vanishes; the false teaching that poverty is synonymous with godliness, or that it is a virtue, a necessity, or God's will, also vanishes, and in its place is found an abiding sense of peace, security, and completeness equal to any demand made upon it. Christ Jesus once said, "All things that the Father hath are mine." Everyone, sooner or later, must realize that this not only was true of Jesus, but is true for each and every individual. But one must claim this truth understandingly and express the "things that the Father hath"—spiritual ideas, spiritual attributes, faculties, and qualities—in daily life, in order to prove his oneness with the Father.

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