Article July 25, 1994 Issue

Facing fear

Ralph W. Emerson

The driver of the car pulled out and started to pass the slow-moving vehicle in front of him on the two-lane road. Suddenly an oncoming vehicle appeared. A head-on collision looked totally unavoidable. The driver, a Christian Scientist, said aloud, "Thank you, God! Thank you, God!" All the vehicles abruptly veered in such a manner that no collision occurred and no harm was done. The clergyman who was riding with him said, "I want to know more about the religion that enables you to turn to God immediately in a situation like that."

How could someone say, "Thank you, God," when it looked as though he was about to have a disastrous accident? That driver had learned through his study of Christian Science that since God created man and the universe perfect, to express God Himself, a situation that seems terrifying must not come from God, and therefore does not have power to harm. God is the controller of His creation. He governs with unvarying laws of harmony. Therefore, only such God-derived qualities as love, happiness, and dominion can hold sway, for they are in accord with His laws of harmony.

Although the driver had had no time to reason things out, he was, in effect, thanking God that the apparent evil was powerless and invalid, and that God "knew what He was doing," so to speak. He was right there in control, as He always is, in spite of appearances. The driver's alert recognition of God's presence and control let him see the light of spiritual Truth at work in the human situation, answering his prayer in a concrete way.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Poem

Christ will not reject you