The philosophies and religions of all times have sought to give some kind of solution to the problem of evil. The lowest and most depraved of human beings have sought to understand and to resist some of the temptations and evils of mortal existence, while the highest and noblest natures have sought to overcome "every ill that flesh is heir to." Man, from the deepest necessity of his being, can never be satisfied with ignorance, sin, disease, and death, nor reconciled to anything which, to his sense of good, is not good and "very good." He is forever seeking some kind of explanation, some kind of adjustment to, and some method of overcoming, the things he regards as evil.
As various as have been the solutions offered to the problem of evil, they have enough in common to be reduced to a very few. Each solution represents a different attitude and state of mind through which even the same individual may pass in his effort to understand, adjust himself to, and finally overcome that which he regards as less than good. The four states of mind that we shall consider have found historic expression in materialism, pantheism, dualism, and Christian Theism or Christian Science.
According to materialism, the evils of existence, such as sin, sickness, and death, are natural phenomena; according to pantheism, these evils are a necessary part of the good; according to dualism, they are entities opposed to the good; and according to Christian Theism or Christian Science, they are errors of the carnal mind and illusions of the physical senses, which disappear with the coming of Christ, the recognition and acceptance of divine Truth. Materialism says there is no God; dualism, that God is only a part and not the whole of being; pantheism, that God is all and that His allness includes evil; the Christian Theism of Christian Science, that God is all and that His allness excludes evil.
