Productive doubting

Is doubt intrinsically bad? Couldn't the answer depend largely on what and how we are doubting? To question the validity of some widely held beliefs and practices can be viewed as an essential part of mankind's progress. The Wright brothers must have doubted the opinion reflected in the old clich, ''If God had wanted man to fly, He would have given him wings,'' or they never would have taken off at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

The dauntless, inquiring, enterprising sense that mankind has expressed over the centuries could be thought of as pointing to a basic spiritual animus, even the urge to understand the underlying, indestructible relationship of God and man, Spirit and its self-expression. According to the Bible, God made the heavens and the earth; created man as His image and likeness; and saw everything He had made as ''very good,'' devoid of a single harmful, destructive, evil element. Evil has no record in the first chapter of Genesis, and Christian Science grants it no credibility. It is a misconception of reality that needs to be doubted, challenged, and overcome.

This is the very premise of Christianity as Jesus taught it. Under all circumstances, the Master doubted evil; his life proved his mastery over its supposed power. Confining material laws of time and space were shattered through his unequaled understanding of God and man's relationship to Him. He healed all types of disease and showed mankind the way of redemption and salvation from sin.

Even when facing Pilate and the possibility of a death sentence, Jesus didn't feel insecure about God's ability to help him. Instead, the Way-shower stated clearly and directly to the Roman governor, ''Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.'' 1 With this God-centered mental outlook, anchored in an understanding of God's unopposable power and government, Jesus was able to overcome the challenges of the crucifixion and experience the triumph and glory of the resurrection and ascension. His example remains as a source of hope for us. It's the foundation upon which we can all work out our salvation.

n1 John 19:11

Why should evil seem natural and all-encompassing?Doubt it!

Why should we accept the premise that our current challenges cannot be resolved? Doubt it! With God-given authority, question the validity of these godless suggestions-but never doubt the facts of spiritual being.

Mary Baker Eddy, a devoted follower of Christ Jesus, and the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, ''If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the supremacy of good, ought we not, contrariwise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to love sin and unnatural to forsake it,-no longer imagine evil to be ever-present and good absent?"n2

n2 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 130.

Could there be anything more natural or normal than the teachings of the Bible, which reveal God as Love-unrestricted, infinite, ever active? The realization of this fact of spiritual being provides an eternal standard. We have a right to doubt and reject whatever does not measure up to this standard.

Man is made to reflect God's being. Therefore we can each experience firsthand His guidance and care. His love is unfailing. If this doesn't seem to be the case, we can challenge the authenticity of whatever would oppose His power.

This is doubting productively, and it brings good results! DAILY BIBLE VERSE Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. I Corinthians 16:13