Article May 23, 1936 Issue

The True Vision

ROLLAND KLUMP

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ Jesus said to his followers, "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." It must be evident to the most casual student that by these words Jesus was not condemning the physical body, or any portion of it, for he who healed all manner of disease and restored sight to the blind most assuredly would not have advocated additional physical suffering or the destruction of the body. His own statement, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil," eloquently expresses his beneficent intentions for mankind. May we not, then, reasonably infer that our Master's sayings have a spiritual significance for us, a significance which, if earnestly sought out, will lead us to a higher understanding of the truth he taught?

It is this understanding of Truth and its universal application to human problems that Mary Baker Eddy has given to the world in her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." To the unprejudiced, earnest seeker for Truth this textbook is indeed a fitting companion to the Bible, and Christian Scientists throughout the world find it an indispensable help in their study of the Scriptures.

At this point the inquirer may ask, How should one pluck out the offending eye and cast it from him? Might we not rightly say that the offending eye is a mistaken view based on material beliefs, a false concept hitherto cherished as an integral part of our education? Perhaps it is a material staff of some sort which we are loath to relinquish; a pet remedy; a mental reservation as to how far we should be willing to trust ourselves to God's care. In short, one might append an almost endless list of errors to the metaphorical offending eye. Christian Science enables us to see with unerring accuracy the fallacy of all mistaken mental habits, and gives us in their place the understanding of our real being.

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