Article August 9, 1924 Issue

Loving Our Neighbors

JOHN R. BROWNE

To human sense the command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," may seem a stubborn injunction. Many regard it as an idealistic apothegm, impracticable, and impossible to obey. Indeed, if obedience to it were to be measured by mortal standards of conduct, it is easy to understand why it might seem impracticable and why compliance therewith might appear impossible. However, no Christian is able to overlook the command or question the authority of him who gave it, and still be consistent in his religious thinking; because, according to the Scriptures, obedience to Christ Jesus is mandatory and, in the light of Christian Science, both possible and practicable.

At the outset, let us consider the importance of this commandment. In speaking of "the first and great commandment" and the second, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," Jesus said, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." In Galatians we read, "All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;" while James said, "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well." Hence, it is declared in the Scriptures that this command has the force of law; it is "the royal law" of God. In view of this, to assert that God's laws are impracticable and that obedience to them is impossible is nothing short of infidelity. The importance of the commandment under consideration is to be measured by its importance as a law of God. Obedience to it is therefore necessary.

Notwithstanding this command of divine law, the so-called human mind continues to argue that our neighbor is a frail mortal who manifests various forms of evil; that he is selfish and arrogant; that he lives after the ways of the world, indulging "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life;" that he is dishonest in his dealings with others, and strives to exalt himself and to attain personal ends. For these, it is argued, he deserves to be criticized and condemned; in business and politics he must be made the victim of deeply laid schemes to overwhelm him and defeat him at what is said to be his own game; and, in society, he must suffer ridicule and be made the subject of unfavorable comment—and so on. Thus moves the procession of human arguments, which reason that it is both impracticable and impossible to love our neighbor as ourselves.

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