Article June 14, 1941 Issue

"Like father, like son"

HELEN M. DUFF

We are all familiar with the old adage, "Like father, like son." This saying has been used when voicing a theory which condemns man to all the ills that follow in the train of a belief in heredity; but in the light of Christian Science it holds forth the full promise of man's true heritage as the son of God.

Let us examine these two aspects of this saying. The material concept of it implies that the son may have no possible chance of avoiding the evil ways and tendencies of his human parent. The young child is often excused for conduct which appears to those near him "just like his father." In many subtle ways the chains of future enslavement are forged by this seeking of resemblances between human parent and offspring, and the false belief of man as a creator becomes more and more entrenched.

If man were understood to be the perfect child of a perfect Father; if he were known to have, as Mrs. Eddy tells us, "not a single quality underived from Deity" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 475), what liberation, invigoration, and redemption would follow! Jesus understood the importance of this fact, for he admonished his disciples, "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." Again, when it was reported to Jesus that his mother and brothers were outside and seeking him, he responded: "Who is my mother, or my brethren? . . . Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother." In this profound statement he stripped the disguise from all sense of human relationship and showed the eternal foundation of the true brotherhood of man.

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