Article April 10, 1937 Issue

Goodness Is from God

W. STUART BOOTH

Occasionally students of Christian Science may be heard referring to some unselfish, kindly, and helpful words or deeds as indications of "mere human goodness." Perhaps the reason for such a remark and classification is that the one whose words or deeds are referred to is not a student of Christian Science, and therefore does not understand the scientific fact that goodness, being from God, is real and eternal, while evil is temporal and false. Ignorance of spiritual realities and of Christianly scientific and demonstrable deductions, however, does not affect these verities. It may be helpful, therefore, to consider somewhat the subject of goodness, its source, nature, operation, influence, and effect.

Human reason coincides with Scripture in its declaration that God is good, the unchanging source of all goodness; for, says enlightened human reason, the infinite creator of the eternal universe must be good, because evil is destructive, not constructive. Here let us note the words of the man who knew God most truly and intimately, and who demonstrated his acquaintanceship with the Father by doing the divine will during his three years' work among men. When a certain rich young man addressed Christ Jesus as "Good Master," he replied, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." According to the Master, then, good is not personal and human; it is divine. And we find it encouraging to recognize that genuine goodness, wherever or by whomsoever it may be expressed, is an evidence of the omnipresence of God.

It is highly desirable that students of Christian Science both recognize and acknowledge that all true goodness is from God; that, as James says, "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." For it is only by properly identifying the good in our human experiences that we can be protected from having that good perverted or diverted, reversed or even lost. The sense of personal possession of something good is liable to engender pride, envy, and fear of loss, because the thought of personal possession has associated with it the belief that one has something desirable, while others perhaps are deprived of it.

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