THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOOD

Archibald McLellan

The utter powerlessness and nothingness of evil is strongly emphasized in the writings of Mrs. Eddy. On page 102 of Science and Health she writes: "Mankind must learn that evil is not power. Its so-called despotism is but a phase of nothingness." Again, on page 192, she says: "The good you do and embody gives you the only power obtainable. Evil is not power. It is a mockery of strength, which erelong betrays its weakness and falls, never to rise." This emphatic declaration that evil is without power to harm, is for our comfort and encouragement, and in proportion as we absorb its real meaning and make use of it in our daily experience, to just that degree are we blessed thereby.

Previous to the discovery of Christian Science by Mrs. Eddy, mankind through countless generations were deceived and made to suffer by the self-conceived assumption that evil is as real as good, and that sickness, sin, and suffering are the sure and unescapable adjuncts of human existence. Fortunately, however, as Christian Science has become better known and understood, this false belief about man has been gradually giving way to a clearer realization of the omnipotence and allness of good, and of man's oneness with his creator. Christian Scientists, therefore, may well take home the lesson that to believe in the reality of evil is to believe that it has power, a mistaken sense which involves the consequent belief that God is not the only creator; in other words, that the One who is "altogether lovely" has so departed from His own nature as to be the creator of evil.

These beliefs are so foreign to the true concept of God as an all-wise, all-good, and all-powerful creator, so opposed to monotheism and Christianity, that it seems strange they should ever have influenced men and women of intelligence, spiritual aspirations, and discernment; but that they do find credence is so apparent that they must be reckoned with in every effort to put aside the "ills of the flesh" which mortals have heretofore so generally accepted as part of their religion and philosophy.

The effect of the belief that evil is power is to arouse alarm and fear in the breasts of those who hold this belief, and this is the one thing against which Christian Scientists should build a wall of sure defense. If we will but accept Jesus' declaration that "the kingdom, and the power" belong to God alone, and the correlative statement, "God is infinite, all-power" (Science and Health, p. 17); that consequently evil is not of divine origin, and is not and cannot be real in the sense that only God's creation is real, we shall then see clearly that in fearing it or its supposed consequences, mankind is simply fearing a self-imposed belief.

One of the best known and most encouraging sayings of the Master is, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," and there is nothing quite so important to Christian Scientists, and to all others as well, as to know the truth about God, and man's relation to Him. This truth is that God is Spirit, and His creation is spiritual and like unto Himself. God is not a creator of evil, and there is no other creator. With the elimination of all belief in the reality of evil, the concurrent belief that evil has power is destroyed, and mankind awakes to that spiritual understanding which, once attained, is so enlightening that they will "never fear again except to offend God" (Ibid., p. 425).

Archibald McLellan.

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THE PHILOSOPHY OF HEALING

February 18, 1911

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