Article September 19, 1959 Issue

THE STANDARD OF PERFECTION

LE ROY WEIL

"The standard of perfection was originally God and man," writes Mary Baker Eddy on page 470 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." As understood in Christian Science, this standard is perpetual, It is the one perfect God, Spirit, Mind, and the one perfect man. God's spiritual idea. This man, described in the first chapter of Genesis as God's image and likeness, is Godlike in every respect. Conversely, he reflects nothing unlike God.

A differing standard, however, is found in the allegorical account of creation in the second chapter of Genesis, where a mist appears. Within the mist, material sense molds a man of dust who knows both good and evil. This sense then tends to envision God as something like man on a magnified scale. The second standard is thus a finite, anthropomorphic God, responsible for evil as well as good, and a confused mortal, who vacillates between the extremes of sin and holiness, sickness and health, life and death. Christian Science declares this standard to be completely erroneous.

One should understand clearly the two standards and their criteria. If one were offered counterfeit money, he might quite innocently become an unsuspecting medium of crime, unless the false coinage were seen for what it is and instantly rejected. Similarly, thoughts of all kinds are constantly offered to consciousness. Each thought should be critically examined in terms of the standard of perfection before it is permitted entry into consciousness.

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