Editorial March 6, 1971 Issue

Stealing Is Not the Answer

Naomi Price

Some people seem to think they can be enriched by stealing. But what a mistake! Dishonesty in any form has exactly the opposite effect. It impoverishes. Those who steal are evildoers who, as the Psalmist says, "shall be cut off."^{ Ps. 37:9;} Far from increasing their supply, they separate themselves from the enjoyment of the unlimited spiritual substance that God is invariably and impartially pouring out to His offspring, and that every human being has the right to possess. Their dishonesty works against their human welfare, and they sink into an ever deeper sense of lack.

Christian Science shows that God, the creator, or divine Father, of the spiritual universe, provides His idea, man, with an abundance of everything required to fully satisfy his daily needs. In truth, man is rich in the spiritual substance of God's qualities and ideas. He lacks nothing. He includes all good by reflection. When we understand and rely upon this spiritual fact, we lose the sense of shortage. We rule poverty out of human experience, and abundance appears, eliminating the temptation to take from another in an attempt to benefit ourselves. As Mrs. Eddy says, "To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings."^{ Science and Health, Pref., p. vii;} And many have proved this.

"Leaning on the sustaining infinite" involves total reliance on God and His law of abundant supply. It demands that one maintain in consciousness the spiritual fact that God has already provided everything one could need. To allow into thought a single suggestion of lack or of wanting to covet a neighbor's goods or indulge in theft, however trifling, is to withdraw this reliance—to deny this law of abundant spiritual supply and expose oneself to an increasing sense of human deprivation.

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