Editorial November 1, 1969 Issue

Is It Wrong to Prosper?

Helen Wood Bauman

So rebellious have some young people become about the grasping materialism of our times that they consider prosperity a sin. Christian Science does not teach that poverty is a virtue, although it decries the piling up of material wealth for its own sake. The point that this Science emphasizes is that freedom from limitation can be and should be proof of the individual's understanding of God's infinitude, which man in His likeness reflects.

Lack is an experience of the finite, material senses; but these senses are false since they give no evidence of God or of His spiritual man. These senses are only individualizations of the one evil, the mortal, or finite, mind, and they perceive all things in a finite way. So poverty is a mortal way of looking at supply; it is not an actual condition but a misconception of something God created.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures Mary Baker Eddy says, "In league with material sense, mortals take limited views of all things."^{ Science and Health, p. 255;} But look at the concept of supply through spiritual sense, and the infinite nature of supply will become apparent. The true concept will force the false concept to yield up its false view, and prosperity will appear in practical interpretation.