Article January 15, 1996 Issue

Never a victim

Toni Tartoué Wengler

Prejudice, poverty, war, and violence are often given as reasons for unjust behavior. When circumstances beyond our control subject us to injustice, we need to know and understand God's law, which is an ever-present help.

If we believe we are under the control of the world around us, we subject ourselves to victimization by other people and circumstances. If we think of ourselves as victims, we must also believe there is someone who can victimize us.

Man is actually neither a victim nor a victimizer; he is the expression of God, Love. When we realize this, our response to human circumstances changes dramatically. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, writes, "In love for man, we gain a true sense of Love as God; and in no other way can we reach this spiritual sense, and rise—and still rise—to things most essential and divine" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 234). This is the Christly attitude Jesus talked about.

Send a comment to the editors