There is much discussion today on the subject of morals. Some insist that civilization will perish if mankind fail to live in obedience to the moral law as set forth in the Ten Commandments. Others declare that such a moral code is unnatural and that civilization can progress only by evolving a moral code in keeping with natural law.

Anthropology and psychiatry present evidence which if viewed from a material standpoint alone would lead us to believe that we can live more satisfying lives by renouncing our commitments to the moral law. Accepting this evidence some theologians are joining in the trend toward a new morality. Others see in this trend the loss of man's identity as the child of God and the consequent decline of civilization.

Actually, the division of opinion is not over the practical value of the moral law. It is over the nature of man. The basic question is whether man is material or spiritual. If we were to concede that man is material, then we should have to yield to the weight of evidence on the side of materialism. But we have evidence that man is spiritual. Christ Jesus gave us this evidence in his reappearance after his crucifixion. We have further evidence today in the healing effect of a spiritual understanding of Life. And Paul said (I Cor. 3:19), "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."

Healing in Christian Science proves that there is more to life than what is seen by the physical senses. Immortality, holiness, harmony, justice, purity, health are a few of the qualities of divine Life which are evident to the spiritual senses. Materialism says that nothing exists outside physical sense. It claims therefore that nothing is to be gained by the struggle to suppress physical desires. But a healing in Christian Science exposes the materialistic view as unscientific by destroying such material sense evidence as discord and disease.

Christian Scientists are sometimes accused of shutting their eyes to what the physical senses see. But actually materialism blinds individuals to the major portion of what is to be seen, and a Christian Scientist, instead of ignoring material evidence, weighs it in the scale with spiritual evidence. On the basis of his findings, he is able not to ignore evil, but to overcome it.

A Christian Scientist does not merely say that disease does not exist; he faces the disease for what it is in the light of a full view of the evidence at hand. In this light spiritual reality is seen in detail, and the nothingness of disease is apparent. Disease is an illusion, and Truth destroys it.

Spiritual evidence is immortal evidence. It is what is seen and felt when one is conscious of divine Love as the one Mind, the All-in-all. It is immortal perfection and beauty one beholds when he is conscious of himself as an idea of Mind existing entirely in divine consciousness.

Materialism, on the other hand, claims that evidence is material because consciousness is in matter. It claims further that individual identity is the result of organized matter. It explains that one knows himself as an individual as long as this organization remains intact; but when death occurs, and the organization of a conscious individual has broken down, one's identity as an individual ceases. It insists that since consciousness exists as an element of matter itself, consciousness never goes out of matter.

According to this theory, identity and individuality are materially evolved, and their death is a material process. Also, according to this theory, the primary purpose of any rule of behavior should be to maintain material identity by encouraging a healthy material organization.

On page 300 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy says: "The theory that soul, spirit, intelligence, inhabits matter is taught by the schools. This theory is unscientific." And on page 307 she writes: "Truth has no beginning. The divine Mind is the Soul of man, and gives man dominion over all things. Man was not created from a material basis, nor bidden to obey material laws which Spirit never made; his province is in spiritual statutes, in the higher law of Mind."

Christian Science teaches that man is idea and that each individual has immortal identity in Mind. Rules of behavior—sound morality—are requisite to establish and maintain true spiritual identity.

Mind, not matter, is basic. In fact, Mind is All, and matter is a false statement, an illusion of mortal belief. This fact is demonstrable. Every Christian Science healing demonstrates it in part and proves that we are on the way to demonstrating it in full through overcoming sin and death and finally through ascension over all material belief.

The question concerning the moral law then is a practical one. And in view of the evidence, there is only one practical answer, and that is that the moral law must be obeyed. It is the law of immortal Life and comes to us from that Life. Through obedience to this law and through understanding of the Science of Life, the pressures and frustrations of human existence can be overcome. And each overcoming is a step closer to demonstration of one's immortal identity.

Carl J. Welz