Perhaps one of the most perplexing aspects of Christian Science is its position on the nothingness of evil and discord. It is a question both newcomer to and seasoned student of this Science may find themselves pondering again and again. Yet in order to understand and practice Christian Science, it’s important to grasp this basic idea.
To most of the world, sin, disease, and death seem solid realities. People commit crimes; friends get sick; lives are in trouble. The idea of dismissing these discords as nothing can seem like gross ignorance, negligence, or callousness. But it is the task of the Christian Scientist to overcome these maladies as Jesus instructed all humanity to do. Christian Science teaches that neither Jesus nor his followers ever tried to defeat anything God-created. So the logic follows—if discord is not created by God, and God created all, what exactly is discord?
Mary Baker Eddy writes in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “It is sometimes said that Christian Science teaches the nothingness of sin, sickness, and death, and then teaches how this nothingness is to be saved and healed. The nothingness of nothing is plain; but we need to understand that error is nothing, and that its nothingness is not saved, but must be demonstrated in order to prove the somethingness—yea, the allness—of Truth” (p. 346).
