Christian Science makes clear that the scientific, right understanding of God destroys the erroneous belief that life, substance, and intelligence exist in matter and shows that because evil is unknown to God, good, the one supreme intelligence, its claims are illegitimate, unreal, and powerless. It teaches that God is infinite Mind, Spirit, Love, divine Principle, and Life; that man, being created in His image and likeness, as the Scriptures tell us, is spiritual; and that since man is Mind's perfect spiritual idea, or reflection, he is not and never has been subject to so-called laws of matter or evil, but rather is eternally governed by God's laws, which are spiritual and are ever operative.

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy writes (p.168): "Because man-made systems insist that man becomes sick and useless, suffers and dies, all in consonance with the laws of God, are we to believe it? Are we to believe an authority which denies God's spiritual command relating to perfection,—an authority which Jesus proved to be false? He did the will of the Father. He healed sickness in defiance of what is called material law, but in accordance with God's law, the law of Mind." Poised in the consciousness of the omnipotence of God, good, and the knowledge of His ever-present law, Jesus progressively demonstrated man's God-given dominion by refuting each and every argument of the carnal mind. Ever conscious of man's unity with God, he proved evil's powerlessness to maim or kill man or to impair his harmony, joy, and activity. The Master knew that man's life is the expression of infinite Life, independent of a physical organism, and that it is therefore eternally complete and indestructible.

The Scriptures record the lives of main who overcame some form of evil through the knowledge and utilization of divine law and therein were enabled to free themselves from whatever would annihilate their health, joy, or peace, as exemplified by Daniel's experience in the lions' den and that of the three young Hebrews who were unharmed by the fiery furnace into which they had been cast by Nebuchadnezzar.

As the student of Christian Science gains an understanding of the operation of spiritual law, he is awakened to the recognition that the harmony or inharmony of his life is influenced by his mental attitude regarding people, events, and material environment. He perceives that Daniel and others escaped harm because their attitude of thought was that of love, humility, and forgiveness; in other words, their thinking was aligned with spiritual law.

Christ Jesus, our great Way-shower, said (Luke 10:19), "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Through spiritual enlightenment we understandingly recognize that the enemy to which Jesus referred is material sense. Thus the Christian Scientist learns to deny, repudiate, and cast out of human consciousness the erroneous suggestions of mortal mind with which he is daily confronted, regardless of how aggressive, terrifying, and realistic they appear to be.

An experience of the writer's some years ago may be helpful. She had made several appointments to pick up advertising copy for The Christian Science Monitor on a certain day. As she crossed the street near her home to wait for a bus to take her to the business section of the city, the driver of an oncoming car failed to obey the stop sign facing him and crossed the intersection without noticeably slowing up. Since she was in the direct path of the car, she was thrown violently to the pavement some feet ahead of the car. Although she was partially stunned, she was able to get to her feet. The driver had stopped, but in panic he unintentionally released the clutch, allowing the car to move forward. Thus before the writer could reach the curb she was again thrown to the pavement.

A neighbor and several pedestrians came to her assistance. The motorist admitted his carelessness and asked for her assurance that he would not be involved in a lawsuit. The writer made it clear that she had no thought of making trouble for him. When the bus arrived, she was able to board it unassisted. However, shortly thereafter she seemed to manifest severe internal pain, accompanied by a sense of extreme weakness. Fear that she would lose consciousness seemed to assert itself.

Turning her thought to God, she petitioned Him to help her. Immediately our Leader's words came to her (Science and Health, p. 393): "Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God's government. Have no fear that matter can ache, swell, and be inflamed as the result of a law of any kind, when it is self-evident that matter can have no pain nor inflammation. Your body would suffer no more from tension or wounds than the trunk of a tree which you gash or the electric wire which you stretch, were it not for mortal mind."

This angelic message enabled her to take a firm stand against mortal mind's clamorous arguments. She now realized that she had not denied evil admission to her thought, but had accepted its appearance as real. In consequence she was entertaining a sense of resentment towards the motorist because of his negligence and self-interest. Spiritual understanding enabled her to see that nothing of a disastrous nature ever takes place in the infinitude of Mind, and that since God's perfect spiritual ideas are governed by undeviating spiritual law, accidents are unknown to them. Thus she turned her thought away from the state of consciousness which testifies that man is made of flesh, blood, and bones and declared the truth that God's man, the real and only man, exists at the standpoint of spiritual perfection, as God's reflection. Therefore, what seemed to be injurious effects were not actualities but false beliefs.

As the illusory nature of the experience was understandingly recognized, the resentment which had been directed toward the motorist was relinquished and replaced with charitableness. By the time she reached her destination she was able to keep all her business appointments, which necessitated considerable walking, without experiencing another moment's pain or discomfort. Later she saw clearly that this remarkable demonstration of the supremacy of spiritual law would not have been possible had she permitted herself to harbor either resentment or condemnation towards the one who was involved. Instead, scientific, right thinking had enabled her to demonstrate her God-reflected dominion over evil, thereby proving its impotence to maim or kill man or to impair his harmony, joy, and activity.

In Science and Health we read (p. 243), "The divine Love, which made harmless the poisonous viper, which delivered men from the boiling oil, from the fiery furnace, from the jaws of the lion, can heal the sick in every age and triumph over sin and death. It crowned the demonstrations of Jesus with unsurpassed power and love. But the same 'Mind ... which was also m Christ Jesus' must always accompany the letter of Science in order to confirm and repeat the ancient demonstrations of prophets and apostles."