Article September 3, 1984 Issue

Comforting the people

DORIS V. I. MORRICE

When tragedy strikes—when a bomb goes off in a crowded street or disease claims the life of a child—people question "why?" They long to be able to comfort the victims and the bereaved.

I used to be concerned over why God would allow such things to happen if He was in control. It all seemed senseless, and I fell away from religion. Then one day I made inquiries of a Christian Scientist. This friend asked if I really believed in everlasting life. "If life really is everlasting, it can never end, can it? And something that never ends could never have a beginning." This made sense, and was the very first glimpse for me of the meaning of Life eternal.

Mary Baker Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health: "Can there be any birth or death for man, the spiritual image and likeness of God? Instead of God sending sickness and death, He destroys them, and brings to light immortality."^{Science and Health, p. 206.}