Article April 23, 1977 Issue

The Man God Chooses

VIRGINIA THESIGER

Christian Science maintains that the world God, Spirit, made is spiritual, not material—a universe of ideas, not atoms—and that at this and every moment God's presence and power can be felt by all who accept this spiritual fact and refuse to acknowledge any other presence or power.

Can there be another presence? Did God make a power opposed to Himself? Can a good cause have an opposite effect? Most thoughtful people have asked such questions at some time in their lives. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, answers them unequivocally. She writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "Man is, and forever has been, God's reflection. God is infinite, therefore ever present, and there is no other power nor presence. Hence the spirituality of the universe is the only fact of creation."^{Science and Health, p. 471;} This truth is so all-embracing, so reassuring, that when dismaying suggestions edge into our thought or when we hear despondent opinions being voiced, we can immediately reject them, on the basis of that truth, as being lies.

For instance, the assumption that the world is fast degenerating into chronic ineptitude is so prevalent that many find it hard not to subscribe to it. It is all too easy to believe that nothing is as efficient as it used to be, that nobody is reliable, that goods are shoddily made, that their delivery will be unpunctual, and so on. This pessimistic thinking hypnotizes us into a state of mind in which we are actually surprised by honesty and efficiency. That there is something wrong with this point of view goes without saying; but the remedy lies in our own approach to life.

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