I am very glad that part of my...

Arthur E. F. Court

[Arthur E. F. Court, Committee on Publication for the North Island, New Zealand, in the Methodist Times, Christchurch]

I am very glad that part of my explanation of the teachings of Christian Science, as published in a recent issue, meets with your correspondent's approval.

His story of the hospital nurse only adds weight to my point. If "what has been created by God" is not accepted as a standard of reality, how is he going to discriminate between what is real and what is imaginary? Certainly the blue reptiles seemed actual enough to the victim of delirium tremens; although, of course, to the nurse they were imaginary. Who will say that mankind, generally, does not, in a similar way, see as real that which, viewed in the light of the perfection of God and His universe, is wholly illusory? On page 494 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says: "Reason, rightly directed, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the experiences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Science of man's eternal harmony breaks their illusion with the unbroken reality of scientific being."

Your correspondent says that "one effect of God's creation of man in His own likeness was man's endowment with the power of self-determination and of quasi creation, and it is this latter power [apparently divinely bestowed upon man] that is responsible for so many of the grim, tragic, and horrible things of life." This statement surely would place the responsibility for evil on the omniscient creator—if it were true. But of course it is not possible that God, absolute good, of whom Jesus declared, "There is none good but one, that is God." could be responsible for such things.

After all, why should we insist on clinging to the notion of the reality and permanence of that which it was our Master's mission to destroy utterly, and which cannot possibly form part of the life which God bestowed upon His spiritual image and likeness? Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 283), "This false belief as to what really constitutes life so detracts from God's character and nature, that the true sense of His power is lost to all who cling to this falsity."

Finally, we may say that Christ Jesus' victories were, from the point of view of the poor, deluded, unhappy victims, over seemingly very real ills; but, from the point of view of the Master, they were the setting at nought of the consequences of misunderstanding God and His perfect law, which Christ Jesus came to demonstrate and prove.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

An article entitled "The Errors...

November 28, 1942

Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit