Editorial April 5, 1924 Issue

Neither Fasting nor Feasting

Albert F. Gilmore

With the clarity of thought and lucidity of expression which invariably characterize her writings, Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 220), "The belief that either fasting or feasting makes men better morally or physically is one of the fruits of 'the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,' concerning which God said, 'Thou shalt not eat of it.'" In these words our Leader deals with the situation which confronts mortals rising from the belief in existence as material, dependent upon food, the use of which is to be curtailed at times, the better to promote spiritual growth.

Notwithstanding the perfect logic of the Master's teaching that God is Spirit, Life, and that, therefore, existence is spiritual, Christendom has swung away from this fundamental doctrine, with the result that both fasting and feasting have come to have their recognized places in the promotion of human well-being. Abstinence at given periods from the use of certain kinds of food, which may be freely used, beneficially, at other times, is believed to have a salutary effect in making spiritual progress. Hereby, from the apparent failure to recognize any other power or law as operative in mortal experience, human welfare is made subject to purely material laws; in fact, is given over to their domination.

It was to liberate mankind from just this type of erroneous thinking, through revealing God as the infinite Father, that Christ Jesus carried on his three years of spiritual ministry: it is again to demonstrate freedom from the accepted laws of matter that Mrs. Eddy has established her great movement. Based solidly upon the Master's teachings, Christian Science is setting mankind free from every phase of erroneous belief, whether finding expression as material law, superstition, or traditional custom. Christian Science is proving that spiritual truth liberates not alone from specified beliefs, but from every phase of error. The task involved in this regeneration, to be sure, is tremendous in its extent, and far-reaching in its import; but the battle is joined, and the results are of the greatest importance, for neither can salvation be gained nor can heaven be won, on any other terms.

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The Golden Rule
April 5, 1924
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