Evil is not something to fear and flee before, or that becomes more real when it is grappled with. Evil let alone grows more real, aggressive, and enlarges its claims; but, met with Science, it can and will be mastered by Science.
~ Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 284
Whether evil appears as a ruthless authoritarian ruler, a financial calamity, or a disease, it must not be ignored or left alone to enlarge its claims. It must be mastered for the benefit and safety of all affected by its claims.
Science is up to the task! Science is a knowledge and understanding of God’s almighty power that wipes out evil with good.
Like the Biblical David faced Goliath fearlessly with his understanding of Almighty God, we can face boasting Goliath’s fearlessly too, and watch the giants of error fall at the feet of Truth and Love.
Thank you Evan for this post and for all your posts which give us truths to tackle the war in Ukraine head-on.
I’m sharing this in a FaceBook group where we are actively praying about this issue, Here’s an article that was posted there this week and it’s in line with your post here. I hope others may find it helpful. “There is no reality in war”. https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/224n70x45u?s=copylink Of course, that’s a bold statement, but the article illustrates why we can affirm that.
Thanks again Evan, and everyone here who is posting such helpful articles and insights on this because, as you say, we cannot ignore it.
Patti
Excellent article on war. Thank you for sharing it, Patti.
Thank you for posting Patti. This article is much appreciated as I can use the ideas stated in it to also see the Truth about what is also seemingly going on in South Africa
The power of prayer — understanding with absolute conviction the allness of God and the nothingness of error — ends the belief in war, which has only ever existed as belief. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, we read, “Erroneous belief is destroyed by truth. Change the evidence, and that disappears which before seemed real to this false belief, and the human consciousness rises higher” (p.297).
Thank you, Evan, for maintaining this important conversation about the nothingness of war.
I can heartily recommend the article you are sharing, Patti Faulkner. I look at it frequently, and it is very helpful in understanding the unreality of war and other discords.
What came to me was a solo I used to sing in church a long time ago based on Psalm 91. I
have typed out the words as far as I can remember them – the odd word might not be the
correct one, but the message is correct – that evil is not to be feared because it is
not real, but just a lie about God and His Creation. If we understand its nothingness –
that it is just a load of powerless lies – we can face whatever the claim is, and cast it
out of our thought, replacing it with the spiritual counter-fact which destroys it.
O dwell thou in the secret place of God
Where life and health belong
Not human prowess wins the race,
Nor is the battle to the strong.
Not to the strong the victory,
but God provides for all
His will from fear and discord sets us free
And bids the storms of life be still.
Be not dismayed by storm or stress,
But hearken to the still small voice,
That tells of evil’s nothingness,
Be Soul’s serenity thy choice.
Abide in quietness of heart,
Thy days enriched by heavenly grace.
Throughout eternity thou art secure
In Spirit’s Secret Place.
.
Because God and man coexist we can be fear free..
Fear, concern, and worry are all part of mortality..
I’ve found that in proportion to my genuine awareness of my immortality fear fades and love reigns.
It’s a step by step demonstration. And, we can feel the power of Truth each step of that journey.
Easter, the commemoration of Christ Jesus’ triumph of Life over death, gives us all the proof we need that Good ALWAYS triumphs over powerless evil, Love over powerless hatred, Mind’s Knowing over fear- anything which tries to undermine or intimidate or threaten God’s Kingdom of Universal Eternal Harmony.
The article Patti referenced is really good.
Thank goodness for SpiritView’s united stand against evil in whatever guise it tries to take. We are armed with smooth stones which annihilate all fear. We must actively denounce and rebuke evil.
Thank you for this call to action, Evan.
Thank you, Evan. “Science is a knowledge and understanding of God’s almighty power that wipes out evil with good.” Thank you, Patti, for the link to “There is no reality in war”. Thank you, Maggie, for the lyrics/poem. Thank you for the reminder to prayerfully review the truth, promise, privilege, and the work assignment of Psalms 91 and reminding me of so many books I’ve enjoyed full of testimonies about each verse of 91 applied in different settings including one book for soldiers and their loved ones and people targeted by war. Thank you, Kathleen, for the quote on page 297 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy,
I must promptly and wholeheartedly correct and replace any belief of evil or victimization or injustice, sin, disease, or death with the truth in Christian Science. There are not opposing forces and there are not two minds. I cannot have indecision or suffering from a battle or warring values in my thought. There’s never an excuse to indulge beating up on myself or someone else. There is no white supremacy or other insanity that would claim that people can be right or wrong, superior or inferior, good or bad, belong or not belong. Thank you for reminding me to immediately and wholeheartedly refuse to believe or act the core necessity of war: fear and contempt, dismissing the humanity of others and dehumanizing our self by refusing to see them with love. War is impossible when we empathize compassionately, live grateful reverence, and we commit to gracious generosity and mutual aid.
War is impossible when we seek and speak truth and protect the truth tellers in science and journalism, as witnesses, and hold corporations and governments accountable, etc. War is impossible without slander and libel, hyperbole and propaganda, self justification for being closed- minded closed-hearted. War depends upon a silencing certain people and their experiences, and silencing our conscience.
Therefore, I need to be alert and invite the universal Christ to stop me from fueling and funding war profiteering, warmongering, bystander, and/or victim attitude or cynicism. So we must immediately and wholeheartedly refuse any description of our self or others as less than perfect, and we must promptly prove that by being and doing what expresses Love/Truth/Principle.
Because we commit to see ourselves and others with God’s loving eyes, we commit to resist and replace the effort to make some people invisible or injustice to them and their suffering excused, as a way to destroy the environment and democracy in order to make war more profitable for a few at the expense of everyone. Refusing war, we lovingly support Wet’suwet’en trying to protect the world from the ravages, mass fatalities, and countless wars caused by climate consequences of fossil fuel pipelines through their land and water in British Columbia, Canada. Or we help the people of Portland, Oregon, trying to stop Alberta crude tar sands in long oil trains and tanker ships through the shifting shipwrecks in “the graveyard of the Pacific” and train terminal in Portland where one storage tank has 100 times the TNT or explosive power of the atom bomb that destroyed Hiroshima and the surrounding area, spreading poisons that harm for generations.
Because oil and gas profits buy weapons, and wars are started with scapegoating others in order to increase fossil fuel profits, we defund war by defunding the petroleum oligarchs by only developing and using regenerative green energy that doesn’t waste or pollute water or allow monopoly. When everyone’s right to enough safe, clean drinking water and locally-governed rooftop solar and toxin-free fertile topsoil, we cannot have war and everyone wins. Stopping war means we protect and lovingly embrace and give gracious hospitality to the refugees of our nation’s and corporations’ wars for oil, methane, metal, water, drugs, timber, sand, and transport routes. That means we end the profits from racism, wars, genocide, and terrorism against the invisibilized or marginalized or vilified people of Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, The Caspian Sea, The Philippines, Palestine, Congo, Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Indonesia, Peru and Chile, the Amazon, Tibet, etc. etc. And we stop impoverishing people and destroying communities so they can be used as soldiers. Because we commit to correct the causes of war, and the weapons of war, we refuse to give our money or votes that power war, and instead invest our civic duty, time, money, lifestyle, thoughts to Everyone’s needs met for life, safety, health, dignity, belonging, home, caring community, creative individuality, meaningful contribution, and joy. It means that instead of getting irritated and annoyed at someone and dismissing them or wanting to scare or hurt them or gossip about them, we stop ourselves and we ask what is the scary thought they were fooled into believing, And what is the nonsense that I’m telling myself, so what is the correcting truth that liberates them and me? How can I love them and me better? What is the next best way I can bless?
This weekend we have people around the world choosing to pray because it is Passover, Easter, Ramadan, full moon, spring or harvest fall, etc. Thank you, for reminding me to practice prayer by proving it through improving how I think and act as a world citizen, with each economic choice, each act, each interaction.
I loved the image of the slingshot and the five smooth stones that David used to destroy Goliath, the seeming “giant” of error that tried to assert its “power” to intimidate. And the remedy Evan gives us against any appearances of so-called evil, “….we can face boasting Goliaths fearlessly too, and watch the giants of error fall at the feet of Truth and Love.” Thank you!
A deep and heartfelt Thank you to Evan and all contributors here today! These powerful truths are so helpful to each of us and our dear brothers and sisters in the Ukraine and elsewhere wherever help and healing, provision and protection are needed! I especially enjoyed the words of the solo from Maggie, as they are especially beautiful and healing and powerful, as were many of the others I read. And again, thanks to each and everyone that wrote in and especially for the power of Christ’s healing Love!
thank you!!!