Editorial July 4, 1942 Issue

Self-Correction—and Freedom

Alfred Pittman

Christian Scientists in general find themselves progressively free about expression. But if one of them seems limited in that way, so that he does not feel free to speak in public, for example, he readily sees that his need is simply to correct a false sense of himself. He understands that, in reality, expression is not something which he has to achieve, but that it is rather what he is. "Man," Mary Baker Eddy declares (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 470), "is the expression of God's being;" and she shows elsewhere that this expression, being the direct outgiving of the divine nature, is necessarily perfect and unlimited.

As the Christian Scientist earnestly considers these facts and insists, in true meekness and love, on his right to the evidence of them, the evidence appears: the difficulty yields, and he finds that he can speak in accordance with his need. Many a Scientist has proved that this is so.

Such proofs point to the scientific method of overcoming all the limitation, all the weakness or evil, that seems to be a part of one's nature, and therefore of one's experience. The need is always to take specific cognizance of the condition which is hampering one, to recognize that it is illegitimate, and to insist on one's right to annul it through recognition of the truth about God and man. This is the true self-correction, or reformation, as understood in Christian Science. Paul referred to it when he wrote to the Ephesians of putting off "the old man" and putting on "the new." The outcome is what the apostle indicated when he wrote of the process as continuing "till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." But one should keep it clear that "the old man" is always unreal and "the new man" always real, in accordance with the Scriptural teaching of man's likeness to God.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Self-Correction—and Freedom

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access