Article November 27, 1954 Issue

STANDING FOR PRINCIPLE

[Of Special Interest to Young People]

D. PAULINE TAVENER

All of us at times find ourselves confronted with the opportunity to exercise moral courage in standing firmly for what we know is right. Students of Christian Science know how to maintain a high standard of behavior, because Science teaches them how to do this. They learn how to stand on God's side, or on the side of good, no matter how great the opposition may seem.

Goodness is the outcome of thinking and heeding good thoughts. Therefore it is essential to detect quickly whether a thought is from God and is therefore good and worthy of being entertained, or whether it is a suggestion of error, to be rejected instantly and replaced with the specific truth. In following this practice we learn to lead happy and successful lives. Mary Baker Eddy differentiates between real and unreal thoughts on page 286 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Here she says: "God's thoughts are perfect and eternal, are substance and Life. Material and temporal thoughts are human, involving error, and since God, Spirit, is the only cause, they lack a divine cause."

Resistance to the temptation to participate in an activity that is not entirely in accord with our highest sense of right results in spiritual growth. This is the reward of forsaking unrighteousness and darkness and thus obeying the Scriptural command to "come out from among them" (11 Cor. 6:17); that is, to withdraw from the idols of materialism.

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