Article December 9, 1933 Issue

The Right Standpoint

[Original article in German]

SOPHY M. ARGELANDER

In one of his admonitions to the Ephesians, Paul says, "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." This great Apostle to the Gentiles, a mighty champion for the idea of Truth which had been revealed to him in a vision, could speak with authority, for he had abundantly proved in manifold temptations and experiences that he had learned to stand for the right. In the Acts of the Apostles we note that he testified before King Agrippa with courageous conviction regarding his conversion to Christianity. Regardless of the dangers and persecutions attending his position and work, he stood, firm and without fear, vanquishing his opponents by his conviction of the supremacy of Spirit.

What was it that gave such power to the words and works of the apostle? It was his loyalty to "the heavenly vision," which through the grace of God had been shown him. Through his overcoming of the belief in the power of evil, Paul gained that spiritual point of view from which he was able to see the unreality of the claims of the flesh.

Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 322), "When understanding changes the standpoints of life and intelligence from a material to a spiritual basis, we shall gain the reality of Life, the control of Soul over sense, and we shall perceive Christianity, or Truth, in its divine Principle." It is the task of each earnest follower of our Master and of each student of the revealed Christ, Truth, as found in Christian Science, to gain the Christian and scientific point of view from which God, the Principle of being, and His entire creation may be understood. The universe, including spiritual man, can be understood by regarding it from the standpoint of God, divine Principle. Christian Science gives us the perfect concept of God, as Spirit, Soul, Mind, the only creator, and the source of all good. In addition it gives us the point of view that God is Love, as the Scriptures teach. Starting with this premise, we also gain the highest point of view with regard to man, God's image and likeness. When the student of Christian Science makes the perfection of God and man the basis of his thought, he learns to consider the universe and all things constituting it from this elevated point of view, and to refute all that does not accord with that perfection. Sin, sickness, lack, and death are the suppositional opposites which claim to confront him, and he begins step by step to vanquish them through loyalty to Truth, through unflinching continuance in the stand he has taken in adhering to the thought of perfect God and perfect man. The right point of view, being diametrically opposed to the claims of evil, is always to be found in the recognition of divine Love as the basis of real being. No attack of error should cause us to yield the position we have attained with Truth's help.

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