Editorial May 12, 1986 Issue

Freeing the captives of hatred

BARBARA-JEAN STINSON

When innocent people are taken hostage, our deepest sympathies go out to them and their families. Can our compassion extend also to the perpetrators of those deeds?

Unquestionably the belief that there is an independent intelligence that acts in opposition to God and His law is the basic root of all evil. Individuals who permit themselves to be used by the carnal mind's hatred of peace and love do deserve the punishing consequences of their crimes. Christian Science teaches specifically that evil is never to be condoned—that hatred and murder are terrible forms of sin's depravity. Only deep and thorough repentance and reformation win release from sin's awful effects.

Yet there is something that those who love God and man can do to help bring about this needed heartfelt reformation. In her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, speaks of the way captives of every type can be freed. She writes: "The power of God brings deliverance to the captive. No power can withstand divine Love."^{Science and Health, p. 224.}