Article January 18, 1988 Issue

Not guilty

Pain and suffering aren't God's will for any of us. They aren't part of God's law.

Lois Sauer Degler

Recently our family had an exceptionally busy day planned. In the past, after following such a full schedule, I would sometimes need an extended period to recuperate. Although I prayed during the day, when we arrived home I was exhausted. The following day I felt no better.

That morning as I studied the Lesson-Sermon^{ Found in the Christian Science Quarterly.} and spent some time praying for myself, the words "Not guilty" came to me. I recalled that these words come near the end of the trial allegory in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. (The complete allegory is on pages 430-442. It illustrates Christian Science healing.)

I read and reread the story of the trial and thought deeply about its message for me. It became clear to me that, like the defendant in the story, I had done no wrong; I had not disobeyed God's law. My expectation that I had to suffer for a day's activity was really false belief—a lie! All the material evidence of overexertion or exhaustion was false. I realized that I was subject only to the final verdict of the Court of Spirit. As Science and Health has the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Spirit put it: "We have no trials for sickness before the tribunal of divine Spirit. There, Man is adjudged innocent of transgressing physical laws, because there are no such laws."^{ Science and Health, pp. 441-442.} Recognizing that I too was "innocent of transgressing physical laws" freed my thought, and I was soon able to be up and about my work for that day.

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