Article December 26, 1953 Issue

MATTER IS NOT ACTUAL

A. HERBERT PACKER

It is probable that all of us who believe in God use the term Almighty God. But do we believe it as well as say it? And can we know that God, or good, has all power and still believe that there is some other power, known as evil, apparently making itself felt as sin, sickness, war, and death? How can there be any more than all? And if God is almighty and has all power, how can there be any power left over for an evil entity to possess or utilize?

Christian Science gives the answer. It designates evil as unreal— as absolutely false. Christian Science does not deny that distressing world conditions, diseases, and tragedies seem real to our frightened material sense of things, but it does point out that they could not possibly be actualities of a perfect universe made by an omnipotent God who is Love. Christian Science teaches that just as the optical illusions of the mirage shimmering in the desert and the railroad tracks meeting in the distance are unreal, so from the divine standpoint sin, disease, war, and death are mental illusions or falsities. Hence we are capable of overcoming them through that spiritual understanding which gives us a better sense of God and of His perfect universe.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, uses many different words to indicate the unreality of sin, disease, and discord of every kind. One of these words is illusion. On page 495 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, we read: "When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought. Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious as Life eternally is—can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not."

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