Article May 1, 1948 Issue

SPIRITUAL DEMANDS

WALTER DEGEN

Every individual harassed by suggestions of pressure of time, business, home duties, personal responsibilities, or national and world problems, may well ask himself, What is demanded of me? He will find the answer in the teachings of Christian Science, which reveals that man is not a separate, self-contained. unit with a mind inside operating under its own propulsion either entirely independent of God or with only a nebulous contact with Him. Man's oneness with God is indissoluble.

In a challenging statement on page 184 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy assures us, "Truth, Life, and Love are the only legitimate and eternal demands on man, and they are spiritual lawgivers, enforcing obedience through divine statutes." Note especially that she says these are the only demands. This statement refutes with the absoluteness so characteristic of her writings the generally accepted theory that man must fulfill certain material requirements through his own ability and effort.

A similar thought is expressed in the Bible. In Deuteronomy (10:12) we read, "And now. Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul?" The prophet Micah similarly asks (Mic. 6:8), "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

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