Article March 3, 1906 Issue

Salvation through Right Thinking

SAMUEL GREENWOOD.

When mortal man comes to understand that the only road leading to heaven is that of right thinking, he will realize the need of working out his own salvation accordingly. The ability which all men possess, of thinking a good thought in place of a bad one, proves the possibility as well as the practicability of such an ideal mental state.

The problem of human salvation is usually considered a question of escape from the consequences of evil thinking rather than from the evil thinking itself. Indeed it is generally believed inevitable that men must be born in inquity and grow up in a sinful state, inheritors of an evil mind and exposed to constant chances of misfortune and suffering. To cast the odium of evil thus upon the creator is the very root of evil thinking, from which all its branches spring. For human thought to be right it must have the right starting-point, the right idea of man and his origin, such as Jesus referred to when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." As applied to us does not this passage mean that although at this stage we may not be able to wholly demonstrate man's perfection, our mental concept of man must be as perfect as our concept of God, his origin or Father? The belief that man is created with an evil mind is a basis from which no righteous thought proceeds.

When we realize that wicked or mistaken thought is all that consigns mortals to suffering, here or hereafter, we shall be more careful of our mental guests; and if we are wise, begin to cast out all un-Christlike thoughts. It is from this wrong "mind." described by St. Paul as "enmity against God" and therefore the source of all woe, that Jesus came to save mankind, and not from an angry God, nor from a hell of burning brimstone.

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