A Case in court may be won or lost as a result of the evidence submitted. It is also possible for a case to be lost if, for example, a witness should alter his testimony at the last moment and thereby change important supporting evidence. The court must carefully weigh all the evidence submitted by the plaintiff and defendant and then make its decision. In endeavoring to ascertain the truth the court considers various factors, such as the character and reliability of each witness.
As competent evidence is necessary to establish a law case, so is it necessary to prove any fact. Christian Science teaches that no competent evidence exists to support a claim of sickness, sin, failure, or any evil. The student of Christian Science soon learns that the only witness for evil is the carnal mind, which the Apostle Paul said is "enmity against God" (Rom. 8:7). When this witness is silenced no evidence remains to support error's claim to reality. Sometimes mortal mind's testimony seems convincing, but the alert student knows how properly to weigh the evidence. Since God is Mind, he realizes that only divine Mind knows the truth and that so-called mortal mind is incapable of presenting reliable testimony.
A court of law has precedents it can follow. Earlier cases in point serve as guides to the correct decision. The Christian Scientist, too, has precedents to guide him and assure him that he is correct in excluding mortal sense testimony in his search for the truth. No better case in point is needed than the life and works of Christ Jesus. Our Way-shower consistently excluded all evidence presented by mortal mind. To the sufferer at the pool of Bethesda he said (John 5:8), "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." Immediately the healing took place. Although the one at the pool had suffered for thirty-eight years because he had accepted as valid the evidence presented by the carnal mind, Jesus instantly corrected his mistaken acceptance of that false testimony by a clear perception of the fact that man as God created him is forever whole and perfect, conscious only of the evidence of Truth. When mortal mind was silenced as a witness, no evidence to support the claim of imperfection remained. To Jesus, the discordant manifestations of the physical senses were never conclusive. He knew that these illusory suggestions originated in mortal thought and could not affect man, God's expression, who is forever untouched by mortal belief. He attributed no truth or reality to material sense evidence. He accepted as real only what Mind, God, knows of man. He understood that man is the object or idea of omnipotent Mind and is never the instrumentality of evil, never fooled by the carnal mind. It was this correct understanding of man, together with his rejection of the incompetent testimony of mortal mind, that enabled Jesus to destroy error and to heal.
