Your Questions and Answers

from The Christian Science Journal

The two most natural conclusions regarding the nature of evil are flawed or incomplete. The premise that evil does exist flies in the face of the goodness and allness of God; the premise that evil does not exist flies in the face of current experience.

Additionally, the hypothesis that we can be aware of error at one point, but, as we continue to grow, that awareness will fade like a dream, does not stand up to the logic of Truth. If God is all good and All-in-all, there cannot be anything apart from Him (past, present, future) called evil. If we, God’s image and likeness, could be aware of error at any point, remembered or not remembered, then God would not be all good and All-in-all.

Logically, then, we are left with a third possible alternative: We will eventually come to see our current experience, including our thoughts and conclusions about evil, in a different light than we see it right now.

Glimpses of this third alternative view appear throughout the teachings of Christian Science, as exemplified in the following: “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28); “… what the human mind terms matter and spirit indicates states and stages of consciousness” (Science and Health, p. 573); “The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares” (Science and Health, p. 574).

At present, we patiently explore embryonic truths in answering this question, knowing that the final answer will come to each of us as Truth continues to convey itself in its own way and at the correct moment, as it unfolds the allness of existence.

Timothy MacDonald | Washington, DC, US

First, we need to be clear about what an illusion is. Webster’s Dictionary defines illusion, in part, as “being intellectually deceived or misled.” Christian Science awakens thought to the realization that the real nature of God, Mind, is divine and perfect. Therefore, the mistaken and narrow belief in a limited human intellect is all that’s prone to being deceived.

To be liberated from evil or limitation of any kind, it is scientific to know that just as there is only one Mind, there is only one illusion—the claim that there are human minds that can be conscious of evil in all its different guises. There really is nothing, in the absolute sense, that needs to be precluded by the omnipotence of Mind, because an inadequate human intellect that sees the darkness of evil or argues with the omnipresence of good is a mistaken outlook, with no substance or spiritual truth in it. For example, long ago the human mind emerged from its ignorance that the earth is the center of the universe. Now the time has come for us to let go of the notion that Mind is ever restricted and inadequate.

So to analyze where illusion comes from is not helpful, because such an analysis suggests reality in something that does not exist. What is needed is the God-given understanding that illusion—the tendency toward sickly, unhappy, weak thinking—never was part of reality and therefore never had any substance. Our natural God-derived consciousness is pure, undivided thought, reflecting the divine and perfect, which nothing can confuse or steal away.

I like to ask myself, “Am I going to battle with a personal mind, which is incapable of comprehending the nothingness of illusions? Or am I going to discover, accept, and prove the power of the one divine Mind and let it shine through me?” I’ve found that doing the latter is to demonstrate that by its very nature, omnipresent and omnipotent God does in fact preclude the illusion of the false belief we call evil.

Josephine Pickup | Winchester, Hampshire, England

The unreality of evil is, understandably, not the easiest theological concept to grasp, and is understood as our sense of good increases to such proportions that it becomes obvious that evil and good cannot dwell together. The omnipresence of good excludes the possibility of evil in any way, shape, or form.

Before his crucifixion Jesus assured his followers that he would be raised from the grave. Most did not believe him or even fathom what he was talking about, for their faith in death blinded them to accepting death as unreal. But he eventually proved their belief untrue with his resurrection. Likewise, evil appears real to the mind that believes in it, and the belief is not shattered until good takes over and dominates.

In response to your question of how an illusion can appear real to begin with, the answer lies in understanding that the human mind that believes in the illusion is as unreal as the illusion it is entertaining. “The believer and belief,” wrote Mary Baker Eddy, “are one and are mortal” (Science and Health, p. 487).

I believe the omnipresence of God does preclude the illusion or false belief of evil. In the allness of God, there is no evil, no belief in evil, no experience of evil, and no illusion entertaining a sense of evil. The human mind and its belief in evil are as a dreamer dreaming at night whose fantasy flees at daybreak. Upon awaking, there is no trace of a dreamer or a dream.

If you were sunbathing on Waikiki beach in July, would you worry about frostbite? Doubtful! It’s predictably warm in Honolulu at that time of year, and the possibility of freezing doesn’t present itself. Likewise, in God’s omnipresence there is absolutely no consciousness of evil or even a pretense of evil. God is pure good. That’s it. Nothing to the contrary exists or pretends to exist.

Our salvation from the illusion of evil is to put on the Mind of Christ, where there’s no awareness of anything bad. In this Mind we know only omnipresent good, and evil is simply nothing.

Evan Mehlenbacher | Kennewick, Washington, US