"Evil: Does it exist—or do bad things just happen?" asks the riveting cover of a recent Time magazine. The cover story perceptively analyzes mankind's search to make sense out of what often seems senseless. The writer asks, "What does the word evil mean when people use it? Evil means, first of all, a mystery ...."

Reading that reminded me of a childhood experience. My friend's grandmother had just been told she had an incurable disease and wouldn't live much longer. This made no sense to me. This woman was about as good as anyone could be. I asked a minister whom I loved and respected why God would allow such a terrible thing. With a tone of sadness he answered, "God works in mysterious ways. We can't expect to know why or to understand Him."

This answer didn't satisfy me. If God is as much a mystery as evil is, where does that leave someone? In my case, feeling pretty discouraged and insecure. That's why, a few years later, I became so interested in a certain book that broke through the notion that we can't understand God or escape from evil.

The book was Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy. Reading the Bible in the light of Science and Health, I began to see that Christ Jesus was showing that God is good and all-powerful—and not unknowable at all. The healing that Jesus did—which was such a prominent part of his ministry—was proof that God's will is clear. And this will isn't for man to be sick and suffer. Furthermore, Jesus taught his disciples to heal the sick through spiritual means, and he proved that it is possible for ordinary people to understand God's goodness and all-power and to find out that they aren't actually left in the grasp of evil.

Christian Science opened for me a whole new view of Christianity as the means to alleviate suffering. Genuine Christianity isn't merely a way to help us endure terrible things for a longer period of time. What Christ Jesus brought to view was the Christ, revealing the truth of man's being, which actually rescues, saves us, from confusion and suffering. I stayed with Christian Science because the answers it gave me were resolving and healing the troubles I faced.

Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "Mystery does not enshroud Christ's teachings, and they are not theoretical and fragmentary, but practical and complete; and being practical and complete, they are not deprived of their essential vitality."

If God, Spirit, truly fills all space and is all-powerful, there couldn't be another equal and opposite power eternally fighting God—and trapping man in a perpetual state of mental and physical warfare. God, who is good, couldn't create or cause evil. His offspring are created in His spiritual likeness, and evil is no inherent part of our real nature as the sons and daughters of God.

"So where did evil come from?" is the age-old question. Science and Health brings this answer: "The foundation of evil is laid on a belief in something besides God. This belief tends to support two opposite powers, instead of urging the claims of Truth alone. The mistake of thinking that error can be real, when it is merely the absence of truth, leads to belief in the superiority of error."

When Christ Jesus told the people, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," it's quite obvious, in reading the Gospels, that this wasn't just talk. The freedom he announced was being felt tangibly by those with whom he talked. Jesus' healing power, his God-given authority to cast out sin, and his triumph over death on the cross proved this. "Deliver us from evil" in the prayer he taught his followers wasn't just a desperate plea to a God who played games with His creation. Behind it was the unshakable conviction of his Father's goodness and infinite love.

When Christians pray with a growing conviction that God is absolutely good, all-powerful, and real, this doesn't make them Pollyannas, naively denying evil's reality. No one who has faced the pain of serious illness or of personal tragedy could simply wave these difficulties away with superficial assertions that suffering is unreal. But Christian Science isn't doing that.

Quite the opposite. It is making a demand on Christians to be spiritual realists of the most courageous and practical kind—committed to daily living on the premise that God's Word actually is the law of the universe. This takes spiritual strength that develops from a steady personal practice of moral and spiritual values basic to the Science of Christianity. Platitudes and simplistic sentiments don't heal and won't save anyone from trouble. Divine Truth, however, enables us to see, by degrees, the unreality of lies and all evil threats. A trustworthy understanding of God's, Spirit's, reality—and the reality of Spirit's creation—can free people from what would seem to be inescapable situations, including serious illnesses.

There is a continuing, convincing flow of evidence of this practical Christ-healing going on in individual lives. And however modest this evidence may sometimes seem in the context of the sum of sufferings and wrongs in the world, nonetheless it is a significant start. To underestimate such healing would certainly be a mistake. If even a small number of people are rediscovering that this overcoming of evil is what Christianity originally intended, the impact will be felt. The total effect will continue to be greater than it first appears, and will keep growing.

Elaine Natale