Article July 20, 1957 Issue

WHY?

GEORGE F. GARLAND

A small boy can gain a great deal of information by the persistent use of "why:" Even businessmen sometimes arrive at the solution of problems through an intelligent prodding with the word "why." Social and physical scientists now and then uncover new laws in their fields by tracing effect back to cause with the question, "Why?"

Job, in great trouble and adversity, turned aside his friends' assertions that his sufferings must have come as the result of sin. He knew he had not greatly sinned. Instead, he searched with deep questions for an answer to the riddle of his universe. The drama of the book of Job revolves not so much around Job's acceptance of sickness and loss, as around his persistent attempt to find the nature of the ultimate cause of all things. The turning point in his fierce inquiry and his fortunes came when he acknowledged God's power and presence, saying (42:5), "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee."

The Christian Scientist finds "why" a useful question at times. Frequent self-examination helps keep his thought in line with Truth. But when the simple question, "Why?" implies a concealed assumption that evil is real, the Scientist does not permit this assumption to deceive him with arguments plausible to material sense. He learns that persistent questioning to find the cause of evil becomes an admission that evil is real.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

WHY?

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access