HOST: Pick up a newspaper, and it's a rare day when some kind of corruption hasn't made the headlines: cheating in sports and in the classroom, political graft, under-the-counter payoffs, embezzling, deception in the home. These items, and a host of others equally recognizable, are bringing many thoughtful people face to face with the question of how to maintain personal honesty and standards of integrity.

The extent of the challenge is summed up in plain language by Frank Gibney in his book, "The Operators" (Publisher, Harper and Brothers). He writes (p. 206), "Our national future is being misshaped, far more than we realize, by the witless optimist gulled into phony stock purchases, by the two-bit chiseler padding his outsize expense account, by the corporate dodger who writes off his Florida yacht as a business expense, the influence-peddler who tampers with legislation."

A lot of people are asking themselves, With so many people cutting corners, can I really afford to be honest?

SPEAKER: Well, let me ask you a question. Have you ever noticed that when someone is brought to justice for dishonesty his first reaction usually is to deny it, to excuse or justify himself, saying that everybody's doing it, and he's no worse than the rest? But when he's all through, he'll admit he knew all along that what he was doing wasn't honest, that actually it's a relief to get caught.

This shows the deceptive nature of dishonesty. It never presents itself as ugly, degrading, a threat to happiness, health, progress, an enemy leading eventually to disgrace and suffering. It comes dressed up as a very attractive package, alluringly wrapped, neatly tied up with intricate excuses. It suggests a quick way to give the family a nicer home, a shrewd step to a bigger income, a clever, made-to-order opportunity to get something one feels he's really entitled to. But I'm sure of this: Nobody would be dishonest if he would look ahead to see where it inevitably leads and if he would wake up to the satisfying rewards of honesty.

There is a way we can find the strength we need to keep on the right track or to get back on it. We can find it in the Bible. Let me read a few verses that give that kind of help.

Those Bible verses don't just say, "Stop stealing, stop cheating, stop lying, or you'll pay the price." They say in effect, "Stealing or lying isn't worthy of your true nature, made in the image of God." The basis for honesty is something much more positive and profound than merely the fear of being ashamed of one's life or the dread of being found out. The basis of honesty is found in the fact that God is the source of infinite good. Man in His likeness has already been given this good; he's already satisfied, complete. He has no need to be dishonest.

In other words, as we see it in Christian Science, the remedy for dishonesty is to open our eyes to the value of spiritual riches, which are available without limit to all of us but which can be gained only through sticking to a path of honesty. A sense of abundance comes to us when selfish grabbing gives way to the understanding that God is divine Love, the source of all good, and that He provides us all we need every moment.

HOST: But what about people who've become so involved in dishonesty that they feel they've passed the point of no return?

SPEAKER: It's never too late to learn who you really are. Dishonesty is nothing but a slander against man made in God's likeness. All-knowing divine Mind never made man deceitful. Infinite Spirit never made a slave to greed or fraud. Your true nature and mine express the integrity, the intelligence, the purity, the completeness of our heavenly Father. And the understanding of this truth, held to prayerfully and consistently, gives us the ability to overcome temptation.

Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 453): "Honesty is spiritual power. Dishonesty is human weakness, which forfeits divine help." And she says in the same book (p. 393): "Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man."

We have an illustration that shows it's possible to resist evil and get back on the right track. Please tell us the experience of that young man from Wisconsin.

HOST: As a youngster growing up, he got into the habit of doing whatever he thought would impress people. He got outstanding marks in high school, was a class officer for three years, and president of the student council. But in spite of all this, he felt lost. He had no real, firm standard of right or wrong.

He found college work much more demanding. And in order to keep up the high grades he'd had in high school, he began cheating. He did well in his courses and never got caught. But at times, such as when he discussed grades with his teachers, he felt guilty.

After two years the confusion and frustration snowballed. Finally he felt there must be something to help him find the right track. He began to study the Bible and pray the best he knew how. However, there were courses ahead of him that he was afraid of; so he quit college and joined the Navy. He did pretty well there; but as a result of the many different moral standards he encountered, his confusion deepened.

One day he came across some Christian Science literature and began reading it. What impressed him was the concept this religion gave him of God as the infinite, supreme, governing Principle, or divine Mind. He became aware of a spiritual standard he could rely on. Eventually he got a copy of Science and Health and read it through. As time went on, he began to study it in conjunction with the Bible.

Gradually he came to see that man's only purpose is to express God, divine Truth. This brought to light, as a part of his make-up, such qualities as integrity, intelligence, honesty. He found that by striving to express these qualities and align his thought with God, he gained a comforting and strengthening sense of God's presence.

Later, with the help of a Christian Science practitioner, he was able to return to college. But this time he resolved to stop cheating and be strictly honest, even if this meant failing. The result was that he excelled in all his subjects, even those he'd previously shown no aptitude for. But, most important of all, he learned that it's only by expressing man's God-given integrity and honesty that you get a sense of your true worth.