Editorial November 26, 2018 Issue

A clean slate for victims and abusers

Tony Lobl

Like many, I was moved by the recent surge of stories from survivors of sexual assault—generally, though not exclusively, women. Many were speaking out for the first time.

These recent revelations were prompted by a high-stakes political drama, and like others watching around the world, I was focused on the practical and moral ramifications of what was unfolding. Yet I increasingly noticed something else that concerned me quietly threading itself through the entire debate, which was the broad acceptance that a traumatic experience is permanently damaging. The outpouring of stories made it clear to me how many people would benefit if that single assumption could be overturned in their lives. Since Christian Science has shown me we can be freed from the consequences of past tragedy, I longed to see others know that freedom.

This isn’t to deny the longevity of problems experienced by so many trauma survivors, including victims of other violent crimes and terrorist acts and veterans of war. Many have felt trapped in an exitless maze of anger, anxiety, and undeserved shame, but some have found a route out of that mental maze—a spiritual liberation that doesn’t depend on the thoughts, words, or actions of others. It depends on a forever settled, spiritual fact, namely the unchanging relation we all have to our creator. Christian Science explains that creator as divine Mind and pinpoints our true identity as the manifestation of that Mind. Right where deep fear and anger might seem to be, we can awaken to this identity, which is conscious of God’s eternal goodness, as Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, authored by Mary Baker Eddy, points out. It says, “Man and his Maker are correlated in divine Science, and real consciousness is cognizant only of the things of God” (p. 276).

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Bible Lens—November 26–December 2, 2018