IN the first epistle of John, the beloved disciple said (1:5), "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." This utterance clearly bears the impress of Christ Jesus' influence on John's thoughts. A correlative statement is to be found in the Old Testament (Hab. 1:13), "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity."
Mary Baker Eddy has followed these statements to their logical conclusion in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." In this book it is revealed that God, divine Mind, is infinite, changeless good. The perfection, allness, and oneness of God concede no place and no existence to an opposite, named evil. In the transcendent light of Spirit, darkness is not. In all-pervading Love, evil is unknown.
One would think that such positive Biblical statements as those given above might have formed the starting point for all theologians of the Christian faith and that from this standpoint they could have demolished belief in evil or in a power apart from God. Unfortunately this was not the case, and when Mrs. Eddy first enunciated the teachings of Christian Science in the last century, some of the most bitter attacks against it were aroused simply because this Science does not recognize evil as an entity or a reality.
