Editorial October 19, 1963 Issue

A Maturing Conception of God

Helen Wood Bauman

The genuine progress of an individual or a people is measured by spiritual ideals, not by material accomplishments. A maturing conception of creator and creation rewards the search for a deeper meaning of existence than fleeting mortal life and aims can afford. Progress out of limitation, evil, and despair comes with a right conception of God.

Christian Science shows that human experience is a subjective state which invariably reflects the mind that conceives it and that the nearer one approaches the truth of God, the more dominion one has over his experience. And the more spiritually purposeful his life becomes. Mary Baker Eddy says in "The People's Idea of God" (pp. 6, 7), "Periods and peoples are characterized by their highest or their lowest ideals, by their God and their devil."

The long journey from primitive ignorance of Deity to the understanding of the Scripturally revealed fact that God is Love must continue until this great truth, so vividly exemplified in the life and works of Christ Jesus, is accepted by all men—and proved by them. Jesus not only explained but worked out in practical ways the highest conception—the actual truth—of God. His was not shallow doctrine without works. He was here to show mankind that God is an infinitely loving Father, the Lawgiver, who demands obedience, the just and merciful Spirit that forgives sin and its penalties by wiping both of them out of thought. Jesus' mission included healing as a basic proof of the true conception of God which he taught.

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