Article October 22, 1921 Issue

Democracy

JOHN M. DEAN

ONE thing which must forcibly impress even the casual student of Christian Science is the spirit of absolute democracy which pervades its teachings. The Science of Christianity being essentially redemptive in its nature, it necessarily follows that its adherents are drawn from every condition of society. This being true, it is inevitable that an increasing perception of the fundamental brotherhood of man must be revealed, and thus Christian Science becomes the great leveler, gradually but continuously lifting all men to the demonstration of spiritual consciousness. This process must also finally eliminate all sense of personality, while conversely enlarging a proper sense of individuality.

If all men have the same Father and that Father is Spirit, as Jesus declared, then all men must in their essential natures reflect the same spiritual qualities. This does not mean that all individuals at present reflect these qualities in the same degree nor that all are fitted without further individual growth to meet in absolute spiritual equality. The child has a very immature and imperfect concept of the man. However, if because of some error superinduced by a belief in heredity, or environment, or any cause whatever, one seems to be lower than another in the scale of being, it becomes the duty of every Christian Scientist consistently to recognize the nothingness of this claim, for only as thought is uplifted to behold the perfect man can mankind be improved and their final redemption made possible. Yet it must be remembered that no one of us can glory in his attainments, nor has any one of us advanced so far beyond the rest of us as to be entirely out of touch with his neighbors. All are, so to speak, still in the primary class.

It must be clear to the Christian Scientist that any particle of imperfection manifested by any given individual is not God-made and is consequently no part of the man made in His likeness. So, then, it becomes our plain duty to hate sin and not to hate the individual who is deluded by it. Sin is no more a part of man than mud is of water, and the muddiest water is as pure as that in the limpid mountain stream when once it is separated from its foreign elements. So long as men make the awful mistake of accepting as man that which appears as little more than a bundle of personified error, just so long will it be impossible to bring to light God's kingdom. To perceive this kingdom will require a clear apprehension of the spiritual nature of man and the utter nothingness of all that is unlike Spirit, God. Peter realized this after his vision as recorded in the tenth chapter of Acts, and this experience opened his eyes to the forever fact of the brotherhood of man and forced from him that bold repudiation of an honored tenet of his people: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Democracy

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access