Article November 7, 1964 Issue

"The pure in heart"

[Of Special Interest to Juniors]

WILMA PETTKER HARWORTH

The stories of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table were very fascinating to Jim. He was thrilled with the adventures of knights slaying dragons and rescuing fair ladies in distress. However, one thing he could not understand was Sir Galahad's being called chaste, or pure. Purity seemed to him to be a quality for women, not for men. He felt it made Sir Galahad sound like a sissy.

At the Christian Science Sunday School he attended, Jim had learned the Beatitudes, and he remembered the sixth one (Matt. 5:8), "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." He asked his teacher what "pure in heart" meant. In answer, she spoke of the need of clearing our consciousness so that only pure, or spiritual, thoughts are present. Christ Jesus, she pointed out, always was spiritually-minded. He did not accept as real any of the evidence of disease or death that was presented to him, and thus he was able to heal instantaneously.

Jim was reminded that the Bible counsels us (Phil. 2:5), "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." However, he did not understand how this had anything to do with being "pure in heart." Therefore his teacher asked him to look up statements on purity in the Bible and in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. After studying these, he was to bring them to class the following Sunday to share them.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Look Back in Gladness