Article March 13, 1971 Issue

"God helps those who help themselves"

DONALD M. SWINNEY

"God helps those who help themselves" is a familiar argument sometimes offered as an objection to relying on spiritual power as a method of solving problems. This attitude implies that seeking help exclusively through prayer fails to utilize man's own abilities and simply amounts to "passing the buck" to God.

Such an objection is often based on the mistaken premise that praying is a process of asking God to change His mind. It assumes that through prayer one informs God of a better way of doing things. Challenging this anthropomorphic concept of God, Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "God is not moved by the breath of praise to do more than He has already done, nor can the infinite do less than bestow all good, since He is unchanging wisdom and Love." And further on she declares: "Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it. Goodness attains the demonstration of Truth."^{Science and Health, p. 2;}

Spiritually scientific prayer does not relieve the individual of his responsibility for self-help. In fact, it is the means by which he meets this obligation actively. The Science of Christianity reveals that one helps himself best through a demonstrable understanding of, and reliance upon, that divine intelligence which governs the universe. In accordance with the Scriptures, it maintains that our first responsibility is to God, and that when the demands of God are met, the infinite power of perfect Mind is made available for us to utilize in solving the challenges of human living.

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