IT is certainly true in religion that, as one has said, "it is the want of consistency which has caused more secret uneasiness and more relative discord than almost any other failing connected with a man's character." The frailty of human nature is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the disposition to separate theory from practice. As the apostle vividly portrays it, when speaking of that unruly member, the tongue, "Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be."
Christian Science agrees with the sentiment herein expressed, that "these things ought not so to be." Furthermore, it uncovers the mythical, uncertain, and unreliable nature of blind human belief, thus striking a telling blow at the foundation of all human inconsistency. It makes it very plain to humanity that God never endowed man with any capacity to misunderstand His holy Word; that He never made it lawful or possible for him to live a life of mental or moral inconsistency. The woful lack of consistency in daily living is due wholly to a misunderstanding of God and of man's relationship to Him. Christian Science recognizes this fact, and emphasizes the importance of becoming intelligently acquainted with God and His laws as the very first step toward the kingdom of heaven on earth. In taking this step blind belief surrenders to spiritual perperception and understanding, mentality becomes purified, the so-called mind of mortals becomes transformed, and the Mind that was with Christ Jesus is found to be man's only intelligence and Life. God is not the author of an evil eye. It requires not one atom of intelligence to see evil or to believe in it, but it does require intelligence to realize the falsity of the claim of evil, and thereby to reduce it to nothingness.
Consistency in religion will continue to be a lost jewel until humanity learns to separate the tares of mortal belief from the wheat of spiritual understanding. The theory that man is constantly called upon to choose between good and evil applies to mortals, not to the real spiritual man who sees and knows only what God imparts to him. Believing that man is mortal and material, and then trying to reconcile him to an immortal spiritual God, is one of the most popular phases of inconsistency in the religious world. To encounter a Christian believer who is holding firmly to the theory that, because God is good and All-in-all, there can be and is in reality no such thing as evil, is to find a veritable oasis in the desert of human belief. The inconsistency of evil's claim to a legitimate place in the kingdom of God, good, remained invulnerable until divine Science disclosed the fact that it has no Principle and that we may overcome our inconsistent belief in and fear of that which has no substance, reality, or power, and which therefore does not appear in the divine order or consciousness.
