Defending the good in the world

What can we do, you and I, to help overrule the hatred of good that seems so aggressive today? Armed with spiritual truths and insight into the modes of evil, we can do more than we might think. If we look at the history of mankind's moral and spiritual development, we see that evil has always tried to hinder or kill the expression of good, whether political, social, or religious. As perverse as it may seem, there's an aspect of human consciousness that resists genuine goodness and progress.

This dark element was termed by Paul the carnal mind. He spoke of it as ''enmity against God.'' 1 Those who are in sympathy with evil may evoke little of its hatred or resistance. But those who present a higher idea of good arouse the carnal mind's antagonism.

This is most vividly illustrated in the life of Christ Jesus. Here was the very Saviour of mankind. Yet the carnal elements of the human mind were enraged by Jesus' goodness and spirituality. Why? Because the godliness Jesus embodied , the divine Mind that animated him, exposed the carnal mind's total unreality in the divine scheme of things.

Life, as Jesus knew it, is in and of Spirit. He recognized truth and life as not in material consciousness but in spiritual-mindedness. His understanding of man's real yet unseen existence as God's spiritual likeness rebuked egotism, sensuality, pride, willfulness, self-deception. This rebuke was the cause of hatred. As Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says of Jesus, '' 'Despised and rejected of men,' returning blessing for cursing , he taught mortals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God; and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and the cross awaited the great Teacher.'' 2

In like manner, but in lesser degree, every good individual is confronted at some point by the carnal mind's resistance. Indeed, the antagonism is in direct proportion to one's approximation of the supreme goodness Jesus exemplified. Once we recognize this, we are better able to counteract evil through enlightened prayer.

In Christian Science one learns powerful, Bible-based truths that strengthen prayer with spiritual understanding. One of these is the great fact that all genuine goodness comes from God and is therefore indestructible, spiritual. It cannot be slain because it is not a property of matter. This truth, which admittedly contradicts the human sense of things, is a spiritual power. When we have faith in God's truth and hold to it until we feel its reality, our prayers overrule hate and its effects through the energies of divine Love.

Another aspect of prayer is the denial of specific evils we are dealing with. For example, like many people, I was deeply moved when I heard of Anwar Sadat's assassination. Desiring to bring some spiritual light to the situation, I vigorously denied in prayer that goodness could be removed from the world. I affirmed that God's qualities, expressed in man, are eternal and indestructible. I took great comfort in the fact that whatever genuine good Mr. Sadat had accomplished partook of the real and eternal and therefore could not be taken away by his death.

Nothing can destroy the conscious identity of you, me, or anyone. Death is not final. We go on. We each have an eternal destiny to fulfill-to prove our indestructible sonship with God, our beloved Father. ''For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.'' 3

The carnal mind's hatred has no real power. Evil cannot destroy an atom of good. It cannot destroy the peacemakers, ''for they shall be called the children of God.'' 4 Those who are striving to bring out higher ideals in religion, politics, business, education, the family, are blessed and protected by the prayer that realizes these truths.

1 Romans 8:7. 2 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 20. 3 I Corinthians 15:53. 4 Matthew 5:9.

DAILY BIBLE VERSE The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16