Article July 1, 1967 Issue

Disease Is Absence, Not Presence

EDWARD LEWIS

For ages disease has been looked upon as something that mankind must accept and contend with as a real and normal part of life. Christian Science approaches disease as Christ Jesus did, on the basis of its unreality because of the allness of God, good. In agreement with the Biblical statement, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him,"' ^{Gen. 1:27;} Christian Science insists that disease is not the normal status of man in God's image and likeness. Disease must be denied and healed on the basis of its nothingness—its absence, not its presence. On this basis Christian Science is today healing all manner of disease and discord even as Jesus did. Mankind will never successfully cope with disease until they approach it from this standpoint. Nor does this standpoint preclude the need of dealing with the specific aspects of evil and disease.

The Bible states that, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." ^{John 1:3;} God, omnipresent Spirit, could create nothing unlike Himself; His creation must be spiritual. Therefore anything that does not partake of the nature of Spirit is not made, regardless of the evidence of the material senses. Since disease was not made by God who made all good, disease is actually nonexistent.

It would be unreasonable to declare disease to be something that God created and then attempt to destroy it. Mrs. Eddy writes, "It is mental quackery to make disease a reality—to hold it as something seen and felt—and then to attempt its cure through Mind." ^{Science and Health, p. 395;} We can heal disease by proving its nothingness on the basis of God's allness.