God Does Not Bring About Tragedy
Disaster might seem a natural part of human existence. But it is devastating to believe this. And moreover there is something we can do about accidents, "natural" disasters, and diseases - something to remove their effects, and even to prevent them.
God's presence is felt by all those who open their hearts to Him. And the presence of God is the presence of good. Those who honestly seek God's direction find it. He is always at hand, no matter what the circumstances we find ourselves in.
It is comforting to know that God is forever conscious of our existence and caring about us. But this existence is not vulnerable and mortal. God makes us and knows us as spiritual. Being all Love, God has only loving intentions toward His creation. Our spiritual identity is as good and as indestructible as God is.
The Bible illustrates how, in a time of much corruption and immorality, a catastrophic flood threatened to wipe out civilization. Noah ("a just man and perfect in his generations," a man who "walked with God") received divine direction, guiding him to know what to do to save himself and his family (see Gen., Chaps. 6-9).
God told Noah to build an "ark" and to live within this haven of safety, even as floods ravaged a world that had forgotten God. As the story goes, Noah and his family were preserved and went on to rebuild the human race.
One of the first things Noah did after the floodwaters receded was to build an altar to God. Recognizing Noah's commitment to Him, God made a promise to Noah (and to future generations that would trust in Him). The Bible account records: "The Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake;... neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done." In this story, those who sinned against God may have seen Him as a vengeful being who would destroy them for their infidelity. The teachings of Christ Jesus would later show that the sinner brings destruction upon himself or herself because sinning has the effect of alienating one from God.
Does that mean, then, that those who suffer tragedy in their experience are necessarily sinners? No, not in the common sense of that word. But the mere belief that God is both a God of love and a God of wrath, a God who brings good and a God who allows evil, is a sin in one of the original meanings of the verb to sin, which is "to be mistaken." To not believe that God made all creation good, reflecting Him, is a mistake.
Far from destroying us, knowledge of God redeems us. The belief that tragedy is an unavoidable part of God - who is Life itself - is indeed a mistake we need to recognize and correct. Love for God and recognition of His constant, harmonious control over all that He creates is of great value in proving that tragedy is itself something to be destroyed.
Statistics predict that a certain percentage of people will be touched by tragedy during their lifetimes. The Science of Christ invokes the law of God to prevent tragedy, as well as to heal, redeem, and renew us individually and collectively. God's law is a law of perpetual harmony. It is practical in our lives because it enables us to master - mentally - anything contrary to good. Healing is seen as the proof that evil has no hold on the man and woman of God's creating. Step by step, through knowing the truth of God, we can prove that we are not held captive to statistics, laws of averages, or chance.
Christian healing happens daily. Page 134 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy, explains: "The true Logos [Word of God] is demonstrably Christian Science, the natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, - not because this Science is supernatural or preternatural, nor because it is an infraction of divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God, good. Jesus said: 'I knew that Thou hearest me always;' and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There is divine authority for believing in the superiority of spiritual power over material resistance."
