Malpractice Unreal

Evil to the Christian Scientist, is not an intelligent devil, going around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, but is simply the suppositional opposite of his own understanding of divine Mind. Thus as Paul put it, and as the Christian Scientist understands it, he can never be tempted beyond what he is able, for he has only to apply what he knows of God to find his way of escape, that he “may be able to bear it,” and rise triumphant from the experience.

It is only lack of understanding that makes a Christian Scientist afraid of malicious mental malpractice. It should be evident to the merest novice in Christian Science that there could be no suppositional opposite to what he does not know. Thus it is his knowing alone that he is called upon to defend. Evil does not operate as something “over there” outside of one’s own mentality; it always operates as the negative of what one knows. It is the negation that the Christian Scientist must guard against and not an imaginary foe seeking to destroy him. Understanding evil is but the negation of the truth he knows makes him the master of every situation. Therefore, constant watchfulness is necessary to be true to what one knows.