Why did it happen?

JANICE A. MILITELLO

"Why did it happen?" we are often tempted to ask ourselves when confronted with a snag of some kind. We can learn to see that question for what it is: a detour. If pursued, such a question could lure us deeper into the difficulty.

Christian Science takes us in the opposite direction, to reasoning based on spiritual facts. God is Love, the source of all good. God is never the source of evil, or bad results. If God could, or would, cause bad results, He would not be Love. He would not be God.

God is infinite, filling all space. We are His children, always held in God's care. How could divine, never-ending Love cause evil? So one thing is certain: the difficulties we may encounter don't come from God.

Since God, good, fills all space, where can disease or danger come from? The answer is that they don't come from anywhere; evil is not real. Its suggestions are lies. Mortal mind offers these lies, and often we are tempted to believe them. When we do, that's the problem.

Mortal mind is described by Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health as "nothing claiming to be something, for Mind is immortal . . . "^{Science and Health, p. 591;} This mortal opposite of Mind would fool us into believing that it is real. How can we avoid this costly error? By denying the false causes, both apparent and hidden, and affirming the true cause, Mind, or God. Mrs. Eddy writes: "There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from this great and only cause."^{ibid., p. 207;}

Early one morning I stubbed a toe against a wall. There was a lot of pain. I was tempted to acknowledge matter as the cause of the pain: the impact of the toe against the wall, my hurrying, my clumsiness, and so on. I was not healed until, that afternoon, I gave up this false, erring line of reasoning. I threw out the lie that pictured me as a clumsy mortal rushing around making mistakes and prayed to see myself more as God knows me: perfect, expressing His perfection. I was healed within the hour. This was the effect of the Christ, active in consciousness, bringing me a deeper awareness of my true being.

The Bible states, "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions."^{Eccl. 7:29.} Let's stick to the man that evidences only God's goodness and disregard the mortal inventions. Let's lock out the false beliefs of cause and give continuing thanks to God, the real cause.

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