From time to time we receive probing questions from Sentinel readers—and we hear about thoughtful inquiry going on among other individuals as well. They're asking about spirituality, truth, good and evil, the demanding moral challenges of our time. The Sentinel itself seems a good place to explore some of those questions together. So here is our first installment of "A Questions & Answers Exchange." The questions in this and several upcoming columns have been culled from letters to us and conversations shared with us. Answers come from Sentinel contributors and readers whom we asked to address the inquiries. In the future we also hope to include questions and responses sent directly to this column (see address at end) as well as comments from the editorial staff.

These columns are not intended to give definitive answers to subjects that call for prayer, study, and individual listening and action. But our hope is that the questions and responses will offer some light, as we are walking side by side in a common quest for greater spiritual understanding.

Q. How can you possibly say that there is no evil after the events of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany?—from a Holocaust survivor in London, who lost most of her family in the Nazi concentration camps

A. Although I am now a practicing Christian Scientist, I was brought up by Jewish parents who also survived the Holocaust, and I have had to struggle with this question myself. A glib answer wouldn't have satisfied me, and it quite rightly won't satisfy you! In fact, the answer really has to come from an individual, prayerful discovery of God's goodness that addresses this question. It has to be an answer from God speaking straight to one's own heart, which, I feel I can say from experience, will come as one prays.

What form did my individual answer take? It came after much diligent thought about the issue of evil over several years, but a great turning point was a spiritual healing of a severe physical problem. The difficulty began at about the same time that I came face to face with a mob of young neo-Nazi supporters at a rock concert. My prayer for healing continued over a couple of months, and during this time, I realized I needed to overcome an intense fear of a repetition of the Holocaust. I realized that to some degree I was already suffering from that potential repetition through my being terrorized by the fear of it. By understanding the unreality of evil before the allness of God, I have lost that fear, and my physical healing came about through a profound spiritual experience of God as boundless Love, loving everyone and everything as they truly are, spiritually good and not evil.

With that kind of spiritual vision comes a real sense that nothing and no one can rob anyone of God's love. That's something I feel about the victims of the Holocaust—that I owe them the duty to hold a vision of them as having never been removed from God's love by human events. This doesn't mean I don't acknowledge that the human loss of millions of lives through such a perverse, calculated act as the Nazis perpetrated is terrible and tragic beyond words. Yet I feel that such events demand that we come to grips prayerfully with the question of evil's unreality. Through the many healings I have had, I have come to feel that the key to preventing all repetition of evil is humanity's growth in the spiritual understanding of Christ Jesus' words that the devil, evil, is "a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:44). For additional comments on this topic from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, see Miscellaneous Writings, "Origin of Evil," p. 346, and in the section in the same book "Questions and Answers" see 45:21–9; also Science and Health 339:7–19.—from a reader in London

Q. If someone is in prison for past mistakes, and he feels he has progressed beyond those mistakes, is it all right to pray for things to work out so he can be released from prison?—from an inquirer in Massachusetts

A. It would be hard not to want to be released and to get on with a life that has been made new by Christ, Truth. But, even as one prays to see divine law fulfilled, one should not neglect the opportunity to serve God and to glorify Him today in all that one has to do. The book of Acts shows clearly that Peter, John, and other apostles spent their time in prison, even though sent there undeservedly (see, for instance, 4:1–21; 5:17–21; 12:1–11; 16:19–24; 21:30–34). Paul probably wasn't released from his final imprisonment in Rome. Yet, while in prison, he was able to do a great deal of good work that continues to encourage and inspire us today (see Acts 16:16–39; 28:16, 30, 31). In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes, "What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds" (p. 4). If we are no longer imprisoned by sin, we have won a great victory. We can go forward by striving to love God and our neighbor wherever we are, leaving all the next steps in the hands of God.—from a reader in New York City

To our readers: If you have a question to raise, or of you'd like to respond to one of the questions already published in this column, write:

Christian Science Sentinel Q&A
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