Article November 29, 1941 Issue

Practical Religion

JAKOB MATTENBERGER

A System of education or a new doctrine, if it is to benefit and bless mankind, must be demonstrable and established by practical proof, rather than cherished merely as a beautiful theory. Humanly speaking, experience is the final test by which the worth or worthlessness of a system is determined. There is no better criterion than this. Thus, the infinite truth of Christian Science would remain unproved to the world, and perhaps sink into oblivion, if the healing of ills, physical and moral, which results from this understanding, did not provide irrefutable confirmation. It is the experience of thousands that many of "the ills that flesh is heir to" have been wiped out on the basis of the allness of God, as taught in Christian Science. That the healing of the sick is not the only, nor even the main purpose of this teaching, Mary Baker Eddy makes clear in "Rudimental Divine Science," where she writes (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."

Sin is the greatest scourge of mankind. It is the denial of the First Commandment of the Decalogue: "I am the Lord the God.... Thou shalt have no other gods before me." How can one be healed of sin, unless he holds constantly in thought the perfection and sinlessness of God and of His image and likeness, the true man? Persevering contemplation of God and His perfect universe, including man, earnest study of the Christian Science literature, and attendance at church services lead to a better and higher understanding of real being and of man's true destiny. Such improved thinking and increased understanding uplift every phase of our earthly experience. Not only should kindness of heart, pure motives, brotherly love, confidence—all divine qualities—be manifested in us, but we should unreservedly claim these qualities as belonging in reality to our fellow man. All the truths of Christian Science are based on the fact of God's allness and perfection and on man's inseparable unity with Him, and the understanding of these basic facts certainly leads to a higher experience. This is the standpoint from which to glimpse the infinite realm of divine Love, where sin, sickness, and sorrow are unknown.

Only from the standpoint of the perfection and sinlessness of God and man can sin be seen as untrue and unreal, and thus be conquered. The recognition which Christian Science brings of man's inseparable unity with divine Mind bears fruit in practical experience. It is clear that if God, divine Mind, knows no sin, no imperfection at all, and if He has created all, including man, then man and whatever he experiences can be only good. Even a glimpse of man's conscious oneness with the creator of all good brings harmony, intelligence, and order into our daily affairs. On page 202 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes, "The scientific unity which exists between God and man must be wrought out in life-practice, and God's will must be universally done." In proportion to our faith and perseverance in the solving of our problems we are blessed, and therefore show forth to the world the "reason of the hope that is in" us.

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