The apostle says: "For if a man think himself to be 345:27 something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." This thought of human, material nothingness, which Science inculcates, enrages the carnal mind and is the 345:30 main cause of the carnal mind's antagonism. God's idea the ideal man It is not the purpose of Christian Science to "educate the idea of God, or treat it for disease," as is alleged 346:1 by one critic. I regret that such criticism confounds /man/ with Adam. When man is spoken of as made in God's 346:3 image, it is not sinful and sickly mortal man who is referred to, but the ideal man, reflecting God's likeness. Nothingness of error 346:6 It is sometimes said that Christian Science teaches the nothingness of sin, sickness, and death, and then teaches how this nothingness is to be saved and healed. 346:9 The nothingness of nothing is plain; but we need to understand that error is nothing, and that its nothingness is not saved, but must be demonstrated in 346:12 order to prove the somethingness - yea, the allness - of Truth. It is self-evident that we are harmonious only as we cease to manifest evil or the belief that we suffer 346:15 from the sins of others. Disbelief in error destroys error, and leads to the discernment of Truth. There are no vacuums. How then can this demonstration be "fraught 346:18 with falsities painful to behold"? Truth antidotes error We treat error through the understanding of Truth, because Truth is error's antidote. If a dream ceases, it 346:21 is self-destroyed, and the terror is over. When a sufferer is convinced that there is no reality in his belief of pain, - because matter has no sensation, 346:24 hence pain in matter is a false belief, - how can he suffer longer? Do you feel the pain of tooth-pulling, when you believe that nitrous-oxide gas has made you unconscious? 346:27 Yet, in your concept, the tooth, the operation, and the forceps are unchanged. Serving two masters Material beliefs must be expelled to make room for 346:30 spiritual understanding. We cannot serve both God and mammon at the same time; but is not this what frail mortals are trying to do? Paul says: 347:1 "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh." Who is ready to admit this?