Article June 30, 1923 Issue

Salvation

CATHERINE YOUNG

To a world accustomed, for the most part, to think of man as both material and spiritual, the teaching of Christian Science that man, as the image and likeness of God, Spirit, must be wholly spiritual, may seem very radical. It is, however, universally admitted that mankind needs to be saved—saved from sin, sickness, and death—in some way; and by those seekers for salvation who are striving to rise above the level of the material, salvation is sought for in Spirit. Now, Christian Science teaches that man—the real man, or the man made in God's image—is already spiritual, and that in order to demonstrate this teaching what mankind must do is to cast off the old beliefs about man as a combination of Spirit and matter, and to find the new or spiritual man, who has always lived, moved, and had his being in God, and therefore has, in reality, never been in any need of salvation. Thus mankind has to learn to think rightly in order to be saved.

On the first page of the Preface to the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy writes, "The time for thinkers has come." The student of Christian Science soon becomes awake to the vital import of these words, and to the realization that the first step in the way of right thinking must be to learn to think rightly of God as infinite, as the only cause and creator. From this standpoint the Christian Scientist starts to view the world afresh. Some one may say: Surely it is presumptuous to say that we can possibly know God now. After death, perhaps, we may know and understand all the mystery of being; but at present, surely, all we can do, or hope to do, is to have faith in God, to trust Him in every way, and to be obedient to His laws so far as we know them! When we turn to Science and Health (Pref., p. vii) we find it written: "Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping-stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is Life eternal." The Christian Scientist, remembering Jesus' words to Philip, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father," knows that it is his highest duty and privilege to strive to understand more of God; and from his fuller understanding of God of necessity to gain a fuller understanding of the real man; and, furthermore, to put his fuller understanding into practice in healing himself and others of whatsoever kind of sin or sickness.

From this basis of right thinking about God comes the certainty and steadfastness that is characteristic of the teachings of Christian Science. The student learns to think for himself; and with courage and confidence, instead of with timidity and doubt, thinks logically from the basis of the immutable and immortal instead of from the mutable and mortal. The teachings of Jesus become illumined through Christian Science, which shows us that he proclaimed the right understanding of God and of man's relationship to God. He made the truth clear to all who were ready and willing to listen to him. Jesus said we should seek first the kingdom of God, and all else would be added. He showed us the way into the kingdom of God by demonstrating his own knowledge of God and of the Christ, Truth, in healing sickness and sin and destroying the belief of death. He knew God to be the only source of all good, the only Life, and that by learning to think rightly about God, his followers could, to the extent of the measure of their knowledge, likewise demonstrate Truth. Jesus taught that every one must work out his own salvation; that no one else can do it for him; and that the way to accomplish this is through spiritual understanding. He showed the Father to be Life, Truth, and Love, sending only good to His children. Salvation is defined in the Christian Science textbook as "Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed" (Science and Health, p. 593). Salvation, then, is to be attained here,—not in some far-off place and distant time, but now, through right thinking and living.

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