THERE ARE NO SCARS IN GOD'S REALM
Christian Science teaches us that man, made in the image and likeness of God, is and always will be at the standpoint of perfection. Sickness, sin, death, or any other inharmonious condition can never alter man, for nothing can mar or blemish the perfect reflection of God.
The material person may seem to go through phases of deterioration; but there is never any change or decline in God; so there can be no change nor decline in man, His image.
Mary Baker Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 402 ), "The material body manifests only what mortal mind believes, whether it be a broken bone, disease, or sin." So if we would be well, we must accept as true only the good, and we must deny as untrue whatever is not in accordance with the perfect reflection of God.
No matter what power we give to evil, or error, and no matter how strong our belief in it is, we can never make it real. We can only experience the effects of our belief in what that error claims to bring about and what scars it claims to leave behind.
Scars are the effect of believing that we have gone through some unpleasant experience. When we completely cast out this belief through the understanding that God is the only cause and that only good is ever present and true, there will be no scars, no mental pictures of something that never really happened.
Through the teachings of Christian Science we learn that God is infinite good, all-power, and all-presence. Through this Science we become aware of the presence and power of His law, which never fails to operate in our behalf when we are willing to let go of the belief in another law. In order to stop believing in error, we must become familiar with the spiritual facts of being and see things as they really are, not as they appear to the physical senses.
We read in the third chapter of Daniel that three Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were bound and cast into the fiery furnace because they would not bow down to the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. But when Nebuchadnezzar saw that the men were unharmed by the flames, he ordered them to come forth. The account further states that "the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors...saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them."
Their loyalty to God and their strong faith in His power to deliver enabled these men to be unafraid of Nebuchadnezzar's anger and to escape injury. Not only were there no scars, but there was not even "the smell of fire."
We too can come forth unharmed and untouched from the fiery furnaces of suffering, in which we sometimes seem to be, if we understandingly trust God and love Him supremely. His care is ever with us, and since He fills all space, there is nothing present that can interfere with or interrupt the harmony of our true being. We cannot in reality be in any discordant or dangerous situation.
Christ Jesus has left us this wonderful assurance (Luke 10:19 ): "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."
Fear, doubt, resentment, hate, and confusion are some of the so-called serpents and scorpions we must handle quickly, that is, completely overcome, so that no scars of their stings are left behind. Any error in our thinking, no matter how small and harmless it may seem to be, will hinder us from experiencing the full power of the Christ, Truth. Actually, nothing has ever been created that could destroy or blemish that which is in God and therefore spotless.
Mrs. Eddy says in the textbook, Science and Health (p. 463 ), "A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive." True selfhood is the expression of loveliness; it is spiritual, Godlike, harmonious.
Some years ago the writer had an experience which proved to her that the understanding of the Christ, Truth, banishes fear, doubt, and pain and enables us to see perfection right where imperfection claims to be.
Her shoulders and back had been badly burned. Although in much pain, she was able to declare and to see clearly that her true being as the perfect reflection of God had not been touched by error. She saw too that man is not in matter and hence is never the victim of an accident. Her flesh was healed in a few days, but deep scars remained.
One day she realized that her healing would not be complete so long as there was a mark to remind her of the experience. She knew that she must clear her thinking of belief in the reality of the experience and in its seeming cause. When she really saw that God is the only cause and that the effect of that cause is always good, without an element of discord or disfiguration, the scars disappeared completely.
When our consciousness is illumined by spiritual truth, we awaken to the reality of God's allness, goodness, and nearness. Then we can go forth unafraid of any error that may confront us. When we are conscious only of the presence of Love, we shall never entertain anything that can leave a scar on our bodies or bring inharmony or unhappiness into our experience. We shall not only know the truth which Jesus said would make us free; we shall see man as God creates him, spotless and radiant with the perfection and beauty of Love.
Let us cast out the beliefs contrary to these divine facts. Then we shall demonstrate that there are no scars in God's realm.
