Article December 21, 1929 Issue

Protective Value of the Commandments

CLARA B. STRICKLAND

If we regard the Ten Commandments as a chart and guide in our course heavenward, their protective value is plainly seen. The chart of a mariner is utilized as a protective measure upon the ocean; and as its directions are obediently followed the ship is brought into the desired port. To consider the Commandments as restrictive and limiting is to misunderstand their real value; and to disregard or disobey their directions results in divergence from the right course, and sometimes in disaster.

On page 340 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy writes: "The First Commandment is my favorite text. It demonstrates Christian Science." And a few lines farther on she adds, "The divine Principle of the First Commandment based the Science of being, by which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal." This Commandment may be regarded as the embodiment of all the other Commandments. If it be properly understood as a guide and protection, and obeyed as such, all the other Commandments will also be obeyed; but intelligent obedience to the First Commandment requires an understanding of the nature of God. This understanding has been fully revealed through Christian Science.

The human heart instinctively worships some concept of God; but until thought is educated on the true nature of God this concept may be merely that of a magnified mortal. As human thought has advanced through education and spiritual growth, God as the Supreme Being has become better understood. Christian Science has given to the world the concept of God as divine Mind, perfect, and therefore wholly worthy of worship. When thought is ready to be lifted above false beliefs about God and to exchange the material for the spiritual concept, the mortal for the immortal, the physical for the metaphysical, then the understanding of God which Christian Science gives reveals Him as unlimited good, infinite Life, Truth, and Love. As this true understanding unfolds in human consciousness the desire to worship false material gods disappears.

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