Paul C. Benjamin Overri - The Christian Science Journal Dec. 2006
IMO State, Nigeria
In 1999, I began my first year at the University of Calabar in Nigeria. At that time cult practices were common in Nigerian universities, and the school I attended had the highest number of students who were involved in a variety of these cults. When the students in cults couldn’t resolve issues through dialogue with other students, they frequently resorted to killing. Because of the brutal killings that had occurred at my school, I was totally engulfed in fear. I felt like I wore fear as my daily uniform. I had been in school only two weeks when I witnessed the killing of a fellow student. Gradually I lost self-confidence, and everything around me felt chaotic.
Though my philosophy that nobody would think evil toward me because I don’t think evil of others gave me courage, I didn’t welcome the idea of looking my fellow students in the face, because I saw 80 percent of the male students as heartless mobsters. Out of fear, I stuck to a rigid daily routine of going from my hostel to the lecture room to the library and then back to the hostel. I felt like a man in bondage.
Then one day I ran into a friend of the family, a Christian Scientist, and at that time a third-year student at my university. He invited me to a lecture sponsored by the Christian Science college organization (CSO) to which he belonged on our campus. I noticed a quotation on one of the posters for the lecture. It said: “Fear dissolves when you know the Truth.” Just those words helped to calm my chaotic thoughts. Little did I know the deep meaning of those words. After the lecture, I bought a copy of Science and Health. I began reading it, but I felt I couldn’t understand it.
When I met up with my friend again, I told him of my inability to understand the book. He encouraged me to keep reading, and he also gave me copies of the Weekly Bible Lesson (from the Christian Science Quarterly) and Christian Science Sentinels. I continued reading Science and Health and gradually began to embrace the ideas. I came to know my true identity as God’s likeness as described in the first chapter of Genesis, and I began to realize God’s love for me.
Then I understood more deeply the words “Fear dissolves when you know the Truth.” I understood them in this way: Fear (Satan) disappears when you know the Truth (Christ).
I related this to a statement in Science and Health: “[Error] is that which seemeth to be and is not” (p. 472). To me this means that error (fear) is not real, so it must vanish when Truth is acknowledged.
It also says in Science and Health,
When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into selfcompleteness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness (p. 264)
This statement especially helped me to deal with my fearful thoughts about my fellow students. I began to feel God’s love for me, and I began seeing my fellow students as God’s perfect, loved creatures, too.
I soon gained full confidence and moved about the campus freely. Fear and chaos disappeared from my thought, and gradually violent occurrences diminished. I felt like I became a free man, and in my final year no killings took place at my school nor have any taken place in the few years since then. I thank God for His infinite mercy.
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wow! what an amazing demonstration of the peace God gives to us! We can use these lessons at school, at home, at work, or even at church!