Article April 10, 1954 Issue

LIBERATING MISSION OF COLLEGE ORGANIZATIONS

[Of Special Interest to Young People]

WILLIAM CURTIS MESSNER, JR.

For most students the period of their attendance at college is a time of new and stimulating experiences, and traditionally it is regarded as a time of seeking for truth. As a justifiable part of what is regarded as emergence toward maturity, the student explores various scholastic fields and encounters new social activities and standards. There appear to be many theories, modes, and attitudes from among which he may choose.

Christ Jesus is recorded as declaring (John 8:32), "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Indeed, the vital part of the student's questions might be summarized as: What is truth? Does it make free? What is freedom? It is this heart of the customary queries of the college student which points up the role of the Christian Science college organization. This organization stands in the same relation to its campus community as does a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, or a Christian Science Society to its community. The aim of them all, as member bodies of the Christian Science movement, is the salvation of the individual from the bondage of materiality. This is the function of each: to educate spiritually and to heal the individual, and to guard and to guide thereby the growth of the community.

In accord with the spirit of untrammeled inquiry, the college organization does not ask for blind acceptance, nor does it depend upon mere eloquence or ceremony. To the searching thought it can say, in the words of James (2:18), "Shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." In its works—in the teachings of God and man exemplified in higher and more satisfying standards of intelligence, activity, and service—Christian Science is proved to be the truth that makes free, the liberating spiritual truth of God and man.

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