Advances in publishing and communications have had the effect of shrinking the globe, bringing the news of the day to us more quickly and graphically than ever before. Today worldwide coverage of an event can be almost instantaneous. Yet while technological changes have made news more readily available, they have not altered the mental standpoint from which we perceive and respond to events, and this is what ultimately determines their impact on us.
What is this standpoint? Humanity by and large has accepted the view of existence that seems evident to the physical senses—that life is in matter and the product of matter, and that evil is as real and as probable as good, if not more so. That’s why reports of dissension, violence, suffering, and corruption seem to be natural and unavoidable. Reacting to them with anger, fear, or grief also seems normal from this material standpoint. But such reactions only serve to support the claims of evil. The highest hope this material mode of thought can offer is to devise ways to contain evil and to manage its effects.
Christian Science offers a radically different standpoint, a spiritual basis of being that is drawn from the Bible’s inspired Word. This Science acknowledges God as the sole creator and governor of existence, and the true nature of what He created as entirely spiritual, expressing His nature as Spirit (see John 4:24). It asserts that life, substance, and intelligence are actually divine and that good alone is real (see Genesis 1:31). Its authenticity is shown in the direct, healing effect it has in human life; this healing happens when the human mind reaches a perception and heartfelt acknowledgment of the truths of Science as they relate to specific issues.
