Editorial November 23, 1968 Issue

What Do You Believe?

William Milford Correll

It is a fact of scientific metaphysics that one's human life is conditioned by one's beliefs. Hence it is of great importance to the individual to allow no error or false belief to take up residence in his thinking. Christ Jesus cautioned against thieves and robbers, and it was evident that he was not talking about persons. He was talking about aggressive suggestions and false beliefs. He said, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." ^{Matt. 26:41;}

Christian Science teaches that sickness is just as much a temptation as is sin. It is a suggestion of the carnal, or mortal, mind; and it is to be guarded against in the same manner that one would bar his doors against a thief. The way to do this is to gain some understanding of the truth of being, to gain a growing comprehension of the nature of God, divine Love, as the only cause and of the nature of man as God's creation, His child. We can understand that sickness has no place in this true creation, a fact Jesus repeatedly proved in his healing ministry. He approached the healing of disease as one would overcome error with the truth or replace falsehood with fact. He understood that man in God's likeness is perfect and complete and that any suggestion to the contrary is a lie without any truth in it.

Mary Baker Eddy states this fact in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "We should become more familiar with good than with evil, and guard against false beliefs as watchfully as we bar our doors against the approach of thieves and murderers." ^{Science and Health, p. 234;} In this day of rapid communication and pictured impressions it is all the more urgent to know how to bar the door and prevent false beliefs from taking form in one's thought and life.