What the world needs more than its religious doctrines is the willingness to abide by them, if they are true. While the creeds and doctrines of Christian sects are practically a unit in their statement of the fundamental truths concerning Deity, there is but little agreement as to the measure of their applicability to human affairs, and less willingness to adhere to them if they conflict with personal opinion or the deductions of material hypotheses. On the contrary, there seems to be a general tendency to repudiate the responsibility for their application at all, some going so far as to imply that these truths have no practical utility in daily experience. When, therefore, in elucidating Christian Science as practical, scientific Christianity, Mrs. Eddy made the rather startling statement. "Evil is not power" (Science and Health, p. 192), it was not, perhaps, to be wondered at that religious teachers did not, as a rule, agree with her, although claiming to stand on the same doctrinal platform which affirms the omnipotence of God. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that upon the verification of this statement human salvation depends, for if evil is power it is necessarily a part of the eternal government of the universe, and no mortal could ever hope to escape from it.
The evident reluctance of other Christian denominations to endorse the Christian Science teaching of the powerlessness of evil, might well cause one to ask what the teaching of God's omnipotence means, since the only correct or logical deduction possible therefrom must be that any supposed opposite to God is minus power. Mrs. Eddy wrote, as she always did, from the standpoint of the infinite nature of Deity, presenting proof in support of her statement, and challenging all equivocation or subterfuge on this point by pertinently concluding, "Either there is no omnipotence, or omnipotence is the only power" (Ibid., p. 249). Which of these two positions should one take, since there is no neutral ground: that God is not omnipotent, or that He is the only power? It is absolutely essential that the truth concerning this question be understood, for without a true concept of God it is impossible to serve Him aright. The tenor of Scriptural teaching is that mortals do not worship God acceptably while they believe in both good and evil. The attempt to serve two masters always has been useless, and always must be. If one would be at peace he must become acquainted with God; that is, he must know the truth about Him, and this truth must become the unvarying rule of his thought and life.
It should be evident to the thoughtful religionist, if he will carefully examine the situation, that to affirm the existence of evil power is to deny the omnipotence of God, or so to modify his acceptance thereof as to nullify, for him, its original and only vital meaning, which is that there is no other power. No one can avoid the consequent inconsistency if he accepts the all-power of God as a premise and denies its obvious conclusion. The too common theory that an almighty God, otherwise defined as good, and a powerful devil, otherwise defined as evil, coexist or cooperate, is a manifest absurdity; and scholastic theology is forced to assume an arbitrary position in order to formulate or defend this theory. Evil is indefensible from any point of view, since, as Jesus declared, it is a lie from the beginning; hence no theory that includes evil can present the truth regarding God or man; on the contrary, the belief in such theories is responsible for all the woes of mankind. The patent fact, that to the degree one is sensible of good he is insensible of evil, should dispose of the assumption that good and evil have ever blended, or could ever blend, in the divine truth of creation. As one begins to prove the power of good by obeying it, he becomes aware of the deceptive nature of evil, and it is only on the basis of obedience to God that the powerlessness of evil can ever become evident.
