Article November 29, 1969 Issue

Annulling the Claims of Heredity

ANETTA G. SCHNEIDER

"In Science man is the offspring of Spirit," writes Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health. "The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through material conditions prior to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being."^{Science and Health, p. 63;} With this scientific declaration understood, can we ever again fear the bondage of any supposed law of heredity?

A man well known to me was placed in a foster home as a child because his parents had been pronounced consumptive. During his college years he found himself overcome with the same dread disease that had taken the life of his parents. The city Board of Health requested that he leave the school. Dissolute living and excessive liquor and tobacco habits, as a reaction to his frustrations, became the pattern of his life. He planned suicide.

Then a fellow student told him of a book called Science and Health, which was reported to have healed people. The young man bought a copy of this book for seventy-five cents in a secondhand bookstore. He was bewildered at first by what he read, but he clung desperately to this textbook, and finally his eager craving for help was answered. He found someone who could explain something of Christian Science to him, and relatives offered him their home for quiet study. He had no other interest in life now than in this single precious volume, an interest he continually pursued.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Forgiveness: An Act of True Loving