Find
Justice in God
Jer Master, C.S.B., of Bombay, India
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
Several years ago, I received a
telephone bill which was excessive. The telephone was needed in my office for
receiving calls, rather than making them. For years, ever since it was
installed, the bill had never exceeded the minimum any subscriber had to pay.
This time, it was more than three times greater. When this was pointed out to
their accounts office, I was told that I had to pay it, and then I could
protest. The telephone company, being government-owned, is a monopoly, so I had
to do as instructed. The next bill was a normal figure.
After two months, an appointment was
given to me to meet the Chief Engineer of the exchange in that locality. He
asked me to prove that I had not made that many calls, and was not willing to
accept the only evidence I could offer, which was the bills of the past several
years. He insisted I must have had long conversations with someone in Delhi. Or
that perhaps, my cleaning woman may have done so or let someone else use the
telephone in my absence. Protestations of our innocence had no effect on him.
When I described a similar experience my neighbor down the hall had had because
of a change of meter, he advised me not to listen to loose talk. When I
insisted that my neighbor had shown me the file of correspondence with the
exchange, he checked on it with his staff, and realized I had been stating facts.
Nevertheless, at the end of the interview, he still would not admit his office
had made a mistake, and said in a rather haughty tone, that he was in a
quasi-judicial position, and was not impressed with what I had to say.
It was not a happy ending, but I
refused to accept it as an ending. I did what I was now accustomed to doing —
turned to God. I prayed to know that the telephone company and I were both
within God's jurisdiction. The Bible speaks of Him as the Judge. He alone is
the Supreme Authority. Innocence is a quality of Truth. Truth, spelled with a
capital T, is another name for God. Therefore, innocence is strength, it is not
weakness. Innocence has power, the power to overcome the injustice of another's
mistake. This innocence was inherent not only to me but to all — to the staff
at the Exchange and the Chief Engineer. It was important not to be judgmental
myself. No resentment or mental accusation of inefficiency was entertained.
I could not do anything more myself to
rectify matters, but I could trust in God's power. A subsequent bill gave me
credit for more than a thousand calls, which was not much use to me, but at
least it indicated some effort towards rectification. A month or so later, I
received a Money Order from them, refunding the excess amount billed. There has
been no further trouble in this direction.
We often hear of more serious
injustices in the world around us. Innocent people are injured or killed during
terrorist attacks, bonded laborers are unable to free themselves from cruel
employers, children are exploited and ill-treated, women are battered and
looked down upon as inferior beings, corruption hinders the growth of the
nation. The list will go on and on. Less dramatic injustices occur in offices,
bureaucracies, socially and in families.
In a democracy, there is a serious and
earnest attempt to dispense the highest justice. However, there are many flaws.
Human law can be interpreted in different ways to the point of
misinterpretation. Its level of justice is influenced by the wisdom and honesty
of the people involved, and generally by the limitations of the human mind that
can see only a few narrow solutions.
Businesses, offices, families, do not
always function on a democratic basis. The rule of authority here is often
dictatorial.
Going to a Court of Law is not
something everyone can do or wants to do. The average person is hesitant to
embark on a law suit. They may be ignorant of the legal process, not willing to
undergo the expenses or the time often involved, not to mention the
uncertainties of the human judicial system.
Our administration of justice is based
on the adversary system. It is accepted that two people are opposed to each
other and, therefore, only one can win, the other must lose; that their
interests cannot coincide. It is almost like a boxing match. It is like saying
that there is always right and wrong, good and evil, love and hate.
The human mind accepts opposites, as
both being real — good is real and evil is also real. The balance of power is
sometimes on the side of good, and sometimes on the side of evil. That is what
makes justice seem uncertain and often remote. Is there a way out of this
quandary? What can one individual do? Can we buck the system? Can we do
anything to find justice that is more reliable?
Yes. We can pray, turn to God, knowing
He is right with us. The Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health
with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder
of Christian Science, says, "The attributes of God are justice, mercy,
wisdom, goodness, and so on."(1) Justice is an attribute of God and,
therefore, infallible and is not a mere variable human quality. Because it is a
divine quality, it is unchanging, omnipotent, totally dependable, working
universally to bless all. This blessing rests on all simultaneously.
Mrs. Eddy was an American woman who
lived in the 19th century. She had long been a student of the Bible. After a
healing experience she had in 1866, when she was healed of a serious injury
through reading in the Bible how Jesus healed, she read the Bible with a deep,
searching interest until she really began to understand the allness
of God and His completely spiritual creation. The injustices of this world, the
pain and suffering we see around us are not part of His creation.
It was clear to her that God is the
source of all intelligence and wisdom. She says, "God is Mind: all that
Mind, God, is, or hath made, is good, and He made all. Hence evil is not made
and is not real."(2) This is a very logical statement. God, being the only
Creator, made everything and made it good. The Bible says, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very
good."(3) Therefore, as we continue reasoning along these lines, we can
conclude that there really can be no evil actually made. Then how can there be
a right side and a wrong side — a good side and an evil side? Everything is
good. To quote from the textbook again, "All reality is in God and His
creation, harmonious and eternal. That which He creates is good, and He makes
all that is made."(4)
Now what happens to our concept of
justice? Is it a question of deciding between good and evil? No! All that
really exists is good. The nature of God is to give good to all. That is His
concept of justice, the only right concept of it. Does this sound too good to
be true, too simplistic? Because it is good, it is true, but it needs to be
demonstrated in our experience through a deeper understanding of God and His
government of the universe.
Although the world may sometimes seem
chaotic to us, Mrs. Eddy realized, through her research and study, that all
that God creates, and does, is totally systematic and according to fixed laws.
So, a synonym, another name she used, for God, is Principle. Principle implies
a set of rules and laws. God, divine Principle, is the source of all true law.
So God is the actual source of justice. We find it, when we look for it in Him,
not in human circumstances or from other human beings.
The one divine Principle governs all,
whether a poor villager or a business magnate. We are His equally beloved
children. To Him, there are no VIP's demanding special deference, no basis for
envy, often a factor leading to injustice. God is the living Principle, having
absolute power, supreme over any so-called physical power, the Principle of
justice, harmony, happiness, and of health. Inharmony,
injustice, sickness can have no principle or law. They are mistakes, just a
lack of comprehending and perceiving the nature of God. After all, there is no
mathematical principle that permits 2+2 to be 7. Injustice, therefore, calls
for correction, but that correction is for a clearer understanding of God's
presence and power right where an unjust situation seems to be.
The Bible assures us that, "God
is love"(5). The justice of Love is to be loving towards all. It embraces
all of His creation, never playing favorites. It provides and gives, never
takes away nor deprives. It is pure and patient. Infinite Love is unlimited,
ever-present. It is never an accuser, never condemns. It is the perfect Love
that eliminates fear, for to fear, indicates we have not understood the allness of Love.
The textbook often speaks of God as
divine Principle, Love. "Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and
Mother of the universe, including man."(6) Love is therefore also the
basis of law. True law then is the manifestation of Love, which enables us to
trust in the expectancy of good.
The Golden Rule
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave
us the Golden Rule: "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to
you, do ye even so to them."(7) We need to be just ourselves if we want to
receive justice. There is no justice in doing something to someone else which
you would not want happen to you. If you don't want another to hit you, it is
better not to start a fight yourself. If you don't want someone to malign you,
don't speak ill of them. If you don't want something to be grabbed away from
you, you don't grab what belongs to them whether it is their job, or spouse, or
their peace and joy. Now, you will say this is so obvious. Any moral person
behaves correctly because it is the right thing to do and not out of fear of
the consequences.
But what if you are in a position
where the other person is making things tough for you, and there is no human
way of gaining redress. What if the boss, or another employee in the
organization is hindering your work, then where do you find justice? You are
too upright to stoop to the mean ways of an unscrupulous person. And you
certainly can't dominate your boss! Does one just have to tolerate it, or start
looking for another job? If you are enjoying your job, already hold a good,
fairly high position after years of honest, hard work, it is not easy to quit
and find something equally satisfying and rewarding elsewhere.
Some years ago, when I was in my
former profession, I was in a difficult spot. I was on the staff of an
organization for several years, enjoyed my work, and now was head of my
department. A man in the administration office was constantly finding fault
with the work of the whole department. He put as many obstructions as possible
in the day-to-day work, which had formerly run quite smoothly. This was
happening not just in my department but throughout the institution. He was
generally disliked. The only one to support him, was the senior most
administrative officer, so there was no way we could even get our case heard,
leave alone have it remedied. This had been going on for some time, and nobody
was able to do anything, except complain, and criticize him.
About this time, I had begun the study
of Christian Science, and had been told that when viewed correctly, we should
see man, that is, all men, not as difficult, cantankerous and dominating, but
as the spiritual image and likeness of God, as the Bible says in Genesis,
Chapter 1. The word spiritual indicates that which is derived from God. The
highest justice we can express is to think of ourselves and our fellowman as
the perfect reflections of God. That seemed rather a tall order to me, you
might say, virtually impossible. How could I think of him as being Godlike when
he did so much wrong every day. But, as I read the textbook, especially
references pertaining to the man God created — e.g. "Man is spiritual and
perfect; and because he is spiritual and perfect, he must be so understood in
Christian Science."(8) — my thought gradually began to change. If you
believe in God at all, you have to acknowledge that He is the only Creator, and
that man, His highest idea, cannot embody characteristics so different from his
Maker. It sounded logical, but my own human sense, which was accepting the
picture my eyes and ears were reporting, found it difficult to stick to divine
logic. But persistence in following spiritual reasoning, in accepting only God's
laws of perfect justice, over a period of about two weeks, finally brought me
to a point where I could honestly say, I had seen this man, not as an erring human, but truly expressing God's qualities of
wisdom, justice, mercy, kindness, and so on. I felt somewhat at peace. But the
problem still continued. It seemed like what I had been studying and praying
with was just theory or philosophy. I was somewhat disappointed and
disconcerted. Occasionally I wished I could work elsewhere, but such jobs at that
time, in that field, were limited. Even if I did find another similar
appointment, I'd probably lose my seniority. At one stage it almost seemed as
if I might have to leave; it was so unfair, so unjust.
At this point, I prayed very humbly to
God to show me where I had gone wrong, and what I still needed to do. It then
dawned on me that, although I was accepting in theory that this man was the
image of God, therefore the image of Love, I was not putting it into practice
and behaving in accord with this understanding. When I went to work, I avoided
meeting him. If I saw him down the corridor, I'd dodge into some other
department. That was not being loving at all.
It took a lot of humility to take the
initiative to be friendly. Inwardly, I rebelled. Why did I have to do it? He
was the nasty person; everyone said so. But I knew that human opinions would
lead nowhere and were not in conformity with God's law of Love. If the law was
to work for me, obedience to it on my part was essential. It was an effort to surrender
all human reasoning, self-righteousness, condemnation, and judgment. Once these
were given up, a great sense of compassion for him was felt. He must have known
he was unpopular, and that probably made him feel very isolated. That was not
true of his spiritual selfhood, which was totally loved by God.
The next morning I went to work with a
willingness to act according to the substance of my prayers. When I entered the
building, this man was standing outside his office. I went straight up to him,
wished him a cheerful "Good Morning". You should have seen the
startled look on his face, but from then on, all the trouble just vanished.
There was peace and harmony, not only in my department but all departments. He
became a very good friend and ally, and subsequently helped me in other
difficult situations. It was not just a matter of my being humanly diplomatic
or burying the hatchet and showing friendliness. That certainly would not have
worked or at least would not have lasted long. The Christ spoke to me, as well
as to him. The Christ is not a human being but God's healing message to us,
coming in a way we can understand and on which we can act.
Christ, the Divine Message from God
To the people in his community, Jesus
was Mary's son. His holy identity as the spiritual idea of God, the offspring
of Spirit, is known as the Christ. His entire life was the expression of God's
nature. Mrs. Eddy says, "Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine
message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness. The Christ is
incorporeal, spiritual, — yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling the
illusions of the senses; the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and
casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death."(9)
As we understand what is true of
ourselves and others, the truth as God knows it, our thought is freed from a
human view of mankind frequently in conflict with each other. This message,
accepted as the reality of God and man, brings healing. The Christ message is
always a just one, because it is a message from divine Principle, Love. It
expresses the perfect law of God, the universal love of God. In the instance
just related, I had been blessed by the law of Love and so had the other man.
There was no room for further animosity.
An advocate, knowing the specific law
which will free us, pleads on our behalf. The Bible speaks of Christ as
advocate. "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin
not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous."(10) The Christ represents what constitutes our true identity.
Pleading our case on this basis, we can realize we are unfettered, fulfilled,
satisfied, and not badgered, beleaguered under trials at the mercy of a cold
government.
Thus far, we have talked of seeking
justice for the innocent. But what if someone is guilty of breaking the law.
Are they doomed? No, there is hope! Reformation is essential, but when based
only on human good intentions, it may not always last. Temptation may overcome
the individual again. As he begins to understand who he really is, in relation
to God, he will see that his sinful acts are not true of his real selfhood. The
temptations that dragged him down have no power over him. This provides a
release, the freedom to reform permanently and go forward to a new and happier
life.
Do you know what Jesus' standard of
justice was? "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute
you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."(11) He
lived what he taught. His admonition to those who had done wrong, was to cease
doing it. His judgment of everyone he met was Christly. He forgave through his
deep love, and totally healed sensuality, corruption, and sin of every sort. He
even forgave those who crucified him. That enabled him to win his glorious
victory over the grave in his resurrection. He could truly love even those who
plotted his destruction because he understood power as the sole prerogative of
God, Love. Hatred could have no power in the presence of such pure Godlike
love. Love is on the throne, not hate.
Obedience to God's Law
Earlier on, mention was made of
obedience. Law is meant to be obeyed, by all, without exception. God demands
our obedience to His law of purity, goodness, honesty, and love. It is of
greatest value only if done willingly, wholeheartedly, and instantly. Instant
willing obedience gets instant results. That is how Jesus always performed his
instantaneous healings. Obedience to God is in proportion to our love for Him.
It has to be consistent and total, we cannot combine it with human expedience.
We need a willingness to obey the will
of God, even if it seems contrary to human reasoning. That way we are using our
spiritual sense, with which we look away from the picture of injustice or evil,
and acknowledge the allness of God and His perfect
universe and man. This is not putting on blinkers, on the contrary it opens our
eyes to see the good that actually exists.
The Psalmist says, "Open thou
mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."(12)
Spiritual sense is a state of thought that lives in the conscious awareness of
God's presence, the presence of good, not just when the need arises, but
continuously. With it we understand life as God has created it, joyous and
free, not plagued with anxieties. Then we know that all good is possible.
Our own cherished views of how justice
should come about, need to be abandoned. We can never lose by following God's
commands. His wisdom brings perfect justice, rather than human contriving.
God's laws are not forbidding. They
bring boundless blessings. God is All, the one omnipotent Being. Because He is
All, there can be nothing opposed to Him, no power apart from Him. His power
liberates and governs intelligently. It is the power of God that makes justice
a reality. We cannot obtain it through aggression or corruption.
No Retaliation
Obedience to God's law of love,
automatically denounces any temptation to retaliate. A sentence in Science and
Health says, "Revenge is inadmissible." (S&H 22:31-32). As long
as that temptation lasts, we are tacitly admitting there is something other
than God, good, and denying His allness. Then there
seems to be a reason for conflict. The Bible says, "Say not thou, I will
recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee."(13)
When we accept injustice as actually
happening to us, we are either feeling cut off from God or have not really
understood Him. Old mythological stories portray the divine nature as
permitting injustice, or as if it is included within His creation. The
impression often is that suffering is in some way part of existence. Such tales
of yore describe war and bloodshed as inevitable before good can gain the
victory. Much drama and tragedy take place before the conflict is over. A
loving God neither causes nor allows sorrow and suffering. They are unknown to
Him.
Revenge is a mortal sense of justice.
Fighting evil with evil just perpetuates it. When you hit back, you admit you
have been hurt, that you are an isolated, separate, vulnerable mortal. But that
is not what you are. You are the inspired, spiritual, much cherished beloved of
God. Everyone is important to God, and certainly nobody is the child of a
lesser god! When we base our thinking on the presence of God, it takes away
fear, puts us on His team, till we realize everyone is on His team, He is the
captain, then there is really nothing to retaliate to!
The opposite of retaliation is
meekness, meekness towards God and His all-power, not submission to someone's
domination. Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the
earth."(14) Meekness enables us to give up our human estimate of the
situation and accept the truth about it as God knows it. The meek willingly let
go the fear and self-will that sees something that is the opposite of God's
goodness. This removes human fretfulness and allows us to see the glory of the
divine will.
Someone I know was once confronted
with a difficulty concerning his income tax. He had started a new business just
a few years earlier. Many problems had to be overcome during this period.
Others involved in similar work sometimes used unethical short cuts to increase
the volume of their business, but this man had resolved from the beginning to
build up his establishment on sound moral principles. His income remained low
for a while, initially below taxable limit.
One day, he received a summons from
the Income Tax Department which was initiating an inquiry, supposing that the
income declared was lower than it actually was. A long questionnaire, numbering
more than thirty questions, was sent. There were detailed queries referring to
both income and expenditure. At first, this seemed rather intimidating and yet,
being a student of Christian Science, he immediately turned to God and recalled
what Daniel had said when he had been thrown into the lion's den. Daniel had
not been guilty of any wrong. He had been maneuvered into a situation where the
King would cast him into the lions' den, by those who envied his status and the
favor shown to him by the King. Daniel's trust in God was complete. He knew
that he was innocent under God's law, that worshiping the one Supreme God was
fullest obedience to God's law and was the basis of his safety. In the morning,
when the King came to see whether Daniel had survived the night with the lions,
Daniel answered: "My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions'
mouths, that they have not hurt me; forasmuch as before him innocency
was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt."(15)
This man knew that he was innocent. He
had not violated any law of God or the State. Nevertheless, there was some fear
initially, because he had heard so many stories about injustices and the
authoritarian way in which government officials sometimes function. But, like
Daniel, he held to the fact that innocence was his strength. All of God's
support, protection, and justice were already his. He also realized that he
needed to view government officials as also being the spiritual children of
God, governed by His law of Truth and Love. They were not capable of harming an
innocent person. They too had the capacity and wisdom to judge rightly. They
could do nothing independent of God. He prayed this way consistently for the
next three months, while the investigations proceeded.
He had to feel a genuine regard and
appreciation of the work these officers were doing and feel spiritual love for
them. Spiritual love sees no harmful characteristics in the individual, but
understands that everyone, as the offspring of God, has inherited God's
wonderful qualities. This kind of prayer totally eliminated fear. When it was
necessary to visit the income tax officer, he was found to be most gracious,
kind, and understanding. He totally accepted as true whatever had been
submitted. The whole matter ended peacefully without further harassment.
Importance of Forgiveness to Obtain Justice
Throughout this time the vital
importance of forgiveness in the healing was recognized, forgiveness towards
those who had instigated the inquiry. To receive the support and power of the
law of Love, we need to express pure love. Personal condemnation and judgment
have no place. True forgiveness does not attach sin to any individual. As the
textbook says, "The real man cannot depart from holiness, nor can God, by
whom man is evolved, engender the capacity or freedom to sin."(16) It is
that real man that exists right where a vindictive, selfish, greedy person may
seem to be. It is that man that exists right where someone needing justice may
seem to be. When viewed in this manner, the human picture recedes and fades
away. For this spiritual man there is no difficult past history of anger or
domination. There is no scope for flashbacks or rumination. Now we are thinking
of two entirely different people, neither superior or more righteous than the
other. There is neither an aggressor nor a victim. Both are pure, perfect,
spiritual ideas of God, His own expressions of Himself. At this point we
perceive divine Mind's perfect plan and perfect activity. Absolute forgiveness
stems from absolute love, which leads to absolute justice.
Kingdom of God Within You
So you can see, that the ability to
gain perfect justice is included within us. As Jesus said, "The kingdom of
God is within you."(17) It is not a physical location but the
consciousness of universal harmony. As the textbook says, "Let
unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love — the kingdom
of heaven — reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until
they finally disappear."(18) This kingdom comes to us with power as we are
meek, innocent, and persevere in the truth. We find this kingdom through the
study of Christian Science. We don't have to wait for it — it is right here,
within us. This can be an answer to court delays. The law of Love functions
quickly and intelligently, not blindly as human law is said to be.
Mary Baker Eddy
Mrs. Eddy conquered injustice in the
most Christly way. When she was 86 years old, a case was filed in court in her
name by those called her "Next Friends," who were her son,
grand-daughter and a nephew, against some Christian Scientists, her closest
helpers. They claimed that her enormous income was not being managed correctly
by these Scientists, and that they, her "next friends," would act in
her interest because they believed her too senile and incompetent to handle her
finances herself. Her son and other relatives were not the ones who devised the
case. They had been manipulated into believing they were doing right by others
who for years had tried to discredit her work.
From the type of attacks made on her,
and the tone of articles published in a New York newspaper, she saw that they
were aimed not just at her freedom of action but at the existence of the
Christian Science church. The prosecuting attorney, in his opening speech, made
that quite clear. To counter the attacks in the press, she gave three
interviews to three outstanding journalists. All of them praised her mental
agility, sanity, and business acumen.
Robert Peel's book "Mary Baker
Eddy: The Years of Authority" has described the trial. The judge appointed
three men, called Masters of the Court, to interview her to determine her
competence "to intelligently manage, control, and conduct her financial
affairs and property rights". This interview proved quite conclusively
that she was totally alert and sane and able to conduct her own affairs. All
through the time of these proceedings, people who met her found no trace of
resentment or anger in her attitude. After the suit was withdrawn by the
petitioners, she wrote a letter of forgiveness to one of those in whose name
the suit had been brought.(19)
During the time of the trial, she
mentioned to Calvin Hill, one of those helping her, "You cannot hurt
anyone by telling the truth, and no one can hurt you by telling a lie."
She advised her staff "not to outline what the verdict would be but to
know that Truth would prevail and that divine Mind would direct the
verdict". She had requested her workers to pray in a specific way.(20)
The greater injustice she felt, was on
behalf of mankind, ignorantly accepting that matter, the material universe,
governed them rather than God. She proclaimed man's God-given freedom as a
divine right — freedom from physical laws that tie us down to disease, sin, and
death. The whole of Christian Science is a call for liberation from accepting
as true what the physical senses are telling us about pain and sorrow. It urges
us to look beyond difficulties, use our spiritual sense to see the true
God-created universe. This is by no means an escape from reality but is a very
practical answer to problems by finding truth and justice in God.
Overcoming Injustice of Sickness and Age
Sickness and age can be some of the
worst forms of injustice. A friend of mine had for years suffered from tooth
problems. She was frequently at the dentist's. When she began studying
Christian Science, she decided to apply it to gain her freedom from pain and
fear. She understood that real substance was God-created, spiritual substance,
ever fresh, and whole, substance that could not deteriorate, break down, or
cause pain. What was her true substance? As the child of God, the substance of
her being was the qualities derived from Him. As she accepted God's law of
perfection she knew there could be no absolute law calling itself dentistry.
God has no knowledge of pain or degeneration, therefore man His image can have
no knowledge of it and cannot be governed by it. Man can have no knowledge of
something God did not make. God is all-knowing. What He does not know, cannot
exist. My friend claimed her right to justice under God's law and was very
quickly healed. After years she was able to eat any kind of food without fear.
Sickness is actually illegitimate. No
law can support malfunctioning. Law must control right action, proper
functioning.
Under God's law of infinite good,
there simply cannot be a law of aging. God is Life, eternal Life. Age and
decrepitude cannot be associated with true Life which is spiritual and
everlasting. Another friend was impelled to prove this a few years ago. She had
begun to lose her hearing. She could not hear the telephone or door-bell ring.
In church she sat right below the speakers, but still found it difficult to
catch what was being read. Relatives and friends around her considered loss of
faculties inevitable with advancing age. As a Christian Scientist she refused
to accept this verdict. She studied many passages from the Bible and from the
textbook, all of which deepened her understanding of the allness
of God, divine Life, and therefore the nothingness of deterioration and death.
The book says, "In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must deny
sin and plead God's allness."(21) God's love for
His child does not diminish as the years go by. It is constant, shining
brightly, just like the sun. Nobody is ever separated from Love. Love is not
something to measure quantitatively or with the yardstick of time. With
consecrated prayer, she persisted in pleading her case by affirming these
truths. Within a few days, her hearing was restored.
How do we find justice in God? By
taking our case to Him, knowing only what He knows. You have seen from the
illustrations given, that it does not depend on any agency outside of us. God
delights in being just. His living love is already actively embracing us — a
force supporting us right now, right here. A study of the Bible shows that He
has been telling us about His perfect justice and love through the ages, even
in circumstances where it seemed humanly impossible. We are responsible for our
own thinking. Obedience to the law of Love, practicing forgiveness, compassion,
holding wholeheartedly to man's spiritual innocence, brings the power of this
Love to bear on a given situation.
Does it sound quite different from
traditional methods? Try it when faced with any injustice, minor or major. You
will be astounded to see what God can do.
1 S&H 465:14
2 S&H 311:4
3 Gen 1:31
4 S&H 472:24-26
5 I John 4:8
6 S&H 256:7
7 Matt. 7:12
8 S&H 475:11-13
9 S&H 332:9-15
10 I John 2:1
11 Matt. 5:44,45
12 Ps 119:18
13 Prov. 20:22
14 Matt 5:5
15 Dan. 6:22
16 S&H 475:28-31
17 Luke 17:21
18 S&H 248:29
19 Robert Peel, Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority, pgs. 280-291.
20 We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, pgs. 180-182
21 S&H 15:16-18