Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-03-29
taEos al Scott street

pain is to say one thing while be-
lleving another. 1t is in effect saying
that God is the only power while be-
lieving that He is not
II ia sometimes wrongly alleged
that in thus denying the reality OF
evil. Christian Science conlcrs a
license to sin Never was there
greater mistake. when man gains
an understanding of the unhealthy of
sin, he no longer turns TO 1t for pleas
lure or tlecs from il in fear. This UNI
derstanding Of the unreality Of evil ~
attanable only as we gain an un-
Outstanding Of God az the only real.
ity
Is Sickness Real?
Omniprescnt God. if il means any
thing. means that God Is everywhere,
that He fills all space. and that there
is no place where He is not It fol
lows inevitably that evil. which from
its very nature cannot be part Of
God nor partake of His being, can
find no Judgement nor foothold any
where and therefore cannot exist Yet
to most protesting Christians out
side the ranks of Christian Science,
evil, the opposite of good, IL as real
actual, powerful, and ever-present as
good itself Naturally they ask, How
are We otherwise to account for the
presence Of the sickness, pain, and
other forms of evil which enter so
largely into human eXperience?'
! Now if | were TO say to you that
these evil things do not actually eX-
! ist-that they only seem to--there
would be some in this audience of
Intelligent people who would emphat.
ically protest, as many of us have
done at one time or another THAT
| is all nonsense. You needn't tell me
that when my head aches | only think
lit does / know better for ] feel IT,,
and what ] feel l know, and no argu-
lment of Christian Science viii con-
vince me differently"
! Right here enters one Of the most
common misconceptions about the
| teachings of Christian Science con
corning the unreality of disease and
the like. Christian Science fully
agrees with the sufferer that pain
seems to he about the most real and
actual thing In all Of human expert
once. but It makes n most decided
distinction between what seems TO be
and what rs Christian Science takes
the high ground that If God is omni-
present if He is everywhere, then
there is no place for pain to be, ana
therefore IL is not an eternal reality.
Men believe that sickness is as real
as health, because they see 1t and feel
he. they believe that evil is as real as
good because they see its effects ana
feel It's hold upon them, Now here
Christian Science does another re-
markablc thing.
II says TO the beginner you are to
look above and beyond what you see
and feel If you would know what
things are real and what things only
seem to be. In other words You are
asked TO deny much OF what the
senses toll you about the body
At first thought this may appear to
be difficult thing to do and an I'M
reasonable thing to ask. for the senses
OF seeing, feeling and the like are
useful servants that at present you
would find It difficult to do without.
nut you do not hesitate to deny much
OF what they tell you about many
other things. For example YOU may
spend an hour or two at the per-
Torrance of some skilled magician
Witnessing an exhibition Of slcight-
Of hand that is very deceiving and
come away knowing that the things
Won saw were not at all what they
seemed TO be and what your senses
told you they were, If you did not
know better you would have been
deceived by each feat That you wit
messed. Other familiar instances OF
sense deception might be cited, but
this perhaps will suffice.
Now then is it to be thought
strange thing If Christian Science
calls upon you to challenge the tes-
timony of these same senses when
they tell you evil things about your
body? If they are capable of mislead-
ing you in one instance, may they
not be doing it in another?
They may generally serve You
well. but they also serve you i'll when
you believe all they tell you about
the vital things Of life Did you ever
consider that all You know of pain
and sickness and want and misery
and suffering aud the like, YOU have
learned through what these senses
have told you? And that they have
never told you single thing about
God or Spirit, or Mind or Truth?
why then should you hesitate to chal-
lenge their testimony when they are
arguing continually against the om-
impotence and omnipresence of God,
against the very existence OF eternal
Truth?
Granting then that the beginner
may see the reasonableness of this
position, we may hear him ask, How
will my rejecting the evidence OF the
senses about the body aid me 10 get