Editorial April 26, 1952 Issue

CORRECT IDENTIFICATION

Helen Wood Bauman

To identify means "to establish the identity of; to prove the same (with something described, claimed, or asserted)." Christian Science describes man as spiritual and perfect, that is, as incorporeal and sinless—the image of Spirit, God. It claims a perfect selfhood for every individual, and it asserts one's spiritual selfhood to be the only identity he actually possesses. This identification means the denial of all that makes one appear to be a mortal, plagued by the flesh and burdened with sin and unwanted experience. It means expressing the character of God as His reflection, for identification must be based upon positive evidence, not intellectual theory.

Mary Baker Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (pp. 1, 2), "Goodness reveals another scene and another self seemingly rolled up in shades, but brought to light by the evolutions of advancing thought, whereby we discern the power of Truth and Love to heal the sick." And so it is goodness—love, purity, intelligence, justice, and the like—expressed consistently in daily living and in healing power that gives evidence that the Christian Scientist is identifying himself correctly as the likeness of God, the one creator.

To declare oneself to be spiritual and yet to act in an unspiritual manner is to be inconsistent and possibly even hypocritical. John saw the insincerity of such actions, and he said (I John 1:6), "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." By this we see that proper self-identification never implies that evil can be condoned or indulged. But it is from the standpoint of understanding one's identity to be God's perfect idea that the claims of an evil sense of life and self are faced and destroyed. Christian Science is a redemptive and regenerative religion, but its redemptive process rests upon correct identification and the corresponding demonstration of the attributes of God, which are eternally manifested through man.

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