Adults are often philosophical about their own problems and afflictions, sometimes priding themselves on their ability to withstand courageously the suffering, woe, and limitation that they mistakenly believe to be part of God's plan for man— a kind of punishment, perhaps, for long-forgotten sins either real or imaginary. But these same adults find it not so easy to be philosophical about the suffering and affliction of little children whom they know to be innocent and for whom Christ Jesus showed such tender affection when he said (Luke 18:16), "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God."
According to Christian Science, to believe that God is capable of vengeance or knows and condones affliction is contrary to everything Christ Jesus taught and practiced. Of his relationship to God, the Master said (John 10:30), "I and my Father are one," and this Mrs. Eddy takes to mean, as she explains in Science and Health, that Father and son are one in quality, not quantity. She writes (p. 361), "As a drop of water is one with the ocean, a ray of light one with the sun, even so God and man, Father and son, are one in being."
Does it not follow, then, that the children of God must be Godlike in every quality of their being? This is a reasonable conclusion that enables us to see children in Science as spiritual identities, complete, whole, intelligent, and in possession of all their faculties. And, being governed by the eternal laws of Spirit, these identities are not and never can be the helpless victims of the so-called material laws that would distort, destroy, and defeat humanity. When these truths are known, the children cannot be robbed of their God-given ability to reason and act normally, nor can they be deprived of that delightful time we call childhood. Not only is God the loving Parent of all, but also He is the divine Principle of man; and by His changeless laws, He maintains and preserves the radiant joy and boundless activity of being.
Parents and others are much concerned these days about the high incidence of what medical theory calls prenatal aberration and deformity, both mental and physical. The laboratories are in constant pursuit of the elusive causes of these deviations from the normal. Could it be that their failure to find conclusive answers to the problem lies in the fact that they are mistaken in premise, that they have not yet recognized that they are seeing only what they believe and that they will continue to see defect and distortion so long as they believe that man is a material organism subject to such aberration?
Let us examine the meaning of the word "aberration." One dictionary defines it as "deviation from truth or a moral standard, from the natural state or from a normal type." Again, it is called "unsoundness of the mind," and, in the light of Christian Science, we might find it helpful to think of this as meaning disorderly thoughts or misconceived thoughts that could well lead to erroneous conclusions.
In Science, we learn to think of man as the reflection of Mind. Mind, then, is the one source from which emanate the pure rays of Truth that form the perfect reflection. Mortal mind—false law and error of every sort—is the point of deflection where human belief would seem to cause deviation from perfection and then to appear to this false mind as the distortion called a mentally retarded or physically deformed child.
We know, of course, that no such deflection can actually take place in the divine Mind, which conceives its own perfect ideas. Moreover, we know that no contrary belief concerning the origin and perfection of man, regardless of how deep-rooted in human history it claims to be, can ever change or reverse the order of creation or God's control over that which belongs to Him alone.
"But," one may ask, "how is such distortion or illusion to be corrected?" In Christian Science we set out to correct the error of belief, and this dispels the illusion. The process for correcting an illusion or any other error invariably includes a comprehension of the truth governing the situation. This truth always has law to support it, and under the demand of law the opposing error, no matter how plausible, must be seen as nothing.
In the case of mental or physical defect, what are the spiritual facts that mortal mind claims to reverse and supplant? They are, of course, that Father and son, or Mind and its idea, are one, that the quality of Mind must be the quality of idea, and that the goodness and perfection of Mind guarantee the goodness and perfection of idea.
The law of goodness and perfection which supports these facts is found in the last verse of the first chapter of Genesis. It reads, "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." In the light of this law, we may test the validity of everything we meet in our experience, including mental and physical defect.
To pursue this line of reasoning a bit further, we might examine the second and third chapters of Genesis, where we find chronicled a record of the so-called material creation which appeared in the wake of a mist that "watered the whole face of the ground" (Gen. 2:6). From this mist, or misapprehension of the nature of man, there emerged a kind of man made of the dust of the earth, that is, a mortal, bearing no resemblance to the man already created by God and pronounced by Him to be very good.
Of this record Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 502): "Spiritually followed, the book of Genesis is the history of the untrue image of God, named a sinful mortal. This deflection of being, rightly viewed, serves to suggest the proper reflection of God and the spiritual actuality of man, as given in the first chapter of Genesis."
For many generations, mankind have been confused by these opposing records of creation, and, with the exception of an occasional great prophet or seer, the world has been deceived by the illusion. And despite the unanswerable questions this false assumption raises and the paradoxical conclusions it forces one to reach, mankind have submitted subserviently to the destructive codes, confusion, discord, and misery that grew out of it.
But Christian Science has corrected this time-honored error and is challenging with reason, logic, and demonstration every point of its long history. Furthermore, Christian Science has brought light to bear upon the words and works of Christ Jesus and made practicable the demand that his followers restore order by healing the sick and sinful by spiritual means alone, that is, by the application of spiritual law.
Often, however, mankind have clung tenaciously to preconceived notions, taking great pride in human genealogy, wherein linger fondly the very seeds of discord, disease, and abnormality. Mrs. Eddy tells us in "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 22), "The human history needs to be revised, and the material record expunged." This needs to be done to the entire human history and material record, not just the history of one's own family.
Let our prayer be the prayer that acknowledges God as supreme in earth as in heaven and His children as the perfect and harmonious emanations of His supreme wisdom and love. Let us deny with conviction that there is any creative force and any creation other than His. Let us see that the entire birth process, viewed from the standpoint of Science, is actually a spiritual experience independent of matter or so-called physical laws. The creative Mind conceives its perfect idea, and true gestation is the orderly unfolding of that idea in accord with spiritual law. The order of this law, understood, permits of no disorderly acceleration, no imbalance of elements, no obstruction, and no retarding influence in violation of Mind's supremacy. The emergence of the spiritual idea is unlabored and therefore is without incident.
And now let us care for the children by seeing them as they really are: spiritual, whole, beautiful. Let us never be deceived by the seeming mist of mortality, but let us claim for all children the freedom and dominion with which they are endowed by their heavenly Father. Let us know that the creative Mind which conceives them in Science also governs them and holds them forever in His tender care. If we do this for the children, we shall defeat the forces of evil arrayed against them and come to see them as God created them, in the beauty and grace of spiritual perfection.
