Article January 23, 1954 Issue

"WHEREFORE DIDST THOU DOUBT?"

VIRGINIA ALLEN DRESSEL

In the fourteenth chapter of Matthew we read of Jesus walking on the sea and at Peter's request bidding Peter come to him. Peter obediently left the other disciples in the ship and walked on the water. The Bible account goes on to say: "But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him. O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" It seems clear that Peter's trouble stemmed from what he saw and the doubt that he allowed to govern him.

One of the lessons earliest learned by the student of Christian Science is to discredit the evidence of the material senses. He has had their unreliability pointed out in many everyday experiences, such as the mirage, the material evidence of a rising and setting sun, a ship appearing to sink as it sails over the horizon. All of these phenomena are seen by the human vision, but understood as deceptive. They do not frighten him, because of his correct knowledge in regard to them. One can look at these and similar illusions and entertain no doubt whatsoever as to their falsity.

When a Christian Scientist is faced with a problem, he turns at once to his understanding that God, as he has learned in Christian Science, is Spirit, Mind, Life, and Love, the primal cause of man and the universe, which, being God-created, are like their cause, therefore spiritual. The Scientist may well ask himself: "Could God have made this problem? Gould it actually be true? Does God know of it?" If the Scientist can honestly say to himself, "No, I know God has never made it. I am convinced He does not know of it, or permit it, and I have absolutely no doubt of its unreality because Christian Science has explained God and man as transcending material sense, then, indeed, he is on his way to solving the problem. Sometimes, however, the student makes a good beginning such as the foregoing, but in spite of his declarations of Truth and earnest mental work, there is, undetected in his thought, doubt as to the effectiveness of his prayer, in our daily use of the multiplication table do we ever doubt its unfailing operation when correctly applied? Should we not feel as sure when applying the rules of Christian Science?

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