Article August 12, 1933 Issue

The Christian Science Standard

ANNIE R. KINMAN

A startling statement may receive more consideration from human thought than another that is in accord with generally accepted beliefs. The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount embody the fundamentals upon which the Christian Science church is established, and its insistence upon obedience to them is no departure from a custom of centuries. On the other hand, the teaching that drugs or other material means are not required for physical healing is a challenge to so-called material law, and one needs to make clear the divine Principle underlying this teaching. The spiritual understanding of the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, gained through Christian Science, and obedience to them destroy faith in matter and establish the true sense of health. Physical healing through spiritual means is the logical deduction to be drawn from these pure Scriptural teachings, and physical healing is but one of the results of Christian Science practice. Mrs. Eddy says in "Rudimental Divine Science" (p. 2): "Healing physical sickness is the smallest part of Christian Science. It is only the bugle-call to thought and action, in the higher range of infinite goodness. The emphatic purpose of Christian Science is the healing of sin."

If the goal of the Christian Scientist were merely a sense of health and comfortable surroundings, he would sooner or later experience the same lack of satisfaction that the materialist always feels. Has anyone seen an individual with sufficient material possessions to make him truly and permanently happy? Is it not proverbial that the truly contented and happy are not the ones with the greatest material accumulations? The physically sick may think they would be satisfied if they had health; the financially poor may feel that wealth is all they need for complete happiness. But with the attainment of these they would long equally as much for something else, until they learn that Spirit and spiritual riches alone satisfy.

The Master taught that the pure in heart see God. So our effort is to keep our consciousness filled with wholesome, righteous thoughts, which we may rightly expect to see manifested in a healthy body and harmonious surroundings.

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