Editorial January 8, 1955 Issue

REFUSING EVIL AND CHOOSING GOOD

Helen Wood Bauman

Isaiah's prophecy of the Messiah—the son of a virgin, whose name should be called Immanuel — was that he would "refuse the evil, and choose the good" (Isa. 7:16). Here was no compromise, no condonation of error, no overlooking of evil left uncorrected. Evil was to be refused, rejected, nullified. The Psalmist put the subject in these words (Ps. 97:10): "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil."

Christ Jesus fulfilled this Messianic prophecy. He both rebuked error and healed it. But he did not condone it. The temptations which came to him in the wilderness he dealt with summarily. He said (Matt. 4:10). "Get thee hence, Satan." His rejection of evil placed him in a position of integrity and authority when he was later confronted with the need of nullifying evil in others. His love of God made him thorough in his refusal to tolerate sin. Even after his resurrection, he was evidently searching Peter's thought, lovingly rooting out any lingering disloyalty to the Christ which might limit Peter's service in ministering to the Christian flock.

Christian Science repeats the Christly demand to refuse the evil and choose the good. Mary Baker Eddy says in "No and Yes" (p. 7), "By the love of God we can cancel error in our own hearts, and blot it out of others." Then she says, "Sooner or later the eyes of sinful mortals must be opened to see every error they possess, and the way out of it; and they will 'flee as a bird to your mountain,' away from the enemy of sinning sense, stubborn will, and every imperfection in the land of Sodom, and find rescue and refuge in Truth and Love."

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