Article April 17, 1971 Issue

Manliness and Spirituality

JACK CLARKE NELSON

In the memorable film about the baseball star Lou Gehrig another ballplayer remarks with deep feeling. "What a guy!" The world needs and values manliness. However, the belief still prevails that manliness is a limited identifying characteristic of a mortal, or fleshly man. By mortal standards masculine strength is thought to be muscular force, courage to be animal confidence, and acumen to be developed brainpower.

Understood in Christian Science, the qualities of manliness transcend physical belief. They are seen to be reflected qualities of God, or Spirit, expressing infinitely more than the so-called powers possessed by finite mortals. Spiritual qualities are spiritual forces expressed by an individual when he is governed by God. In Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy we read, "The material body and mind are temporal, but the real man is spiritual and eternal." Science and Health, p. 302;

But today materialism aims to discredit the spiritual idea of manhood, calling it an enervated, impotent concept of man. This false suggestion would creep in and blind males to the vitality of their true spiritual selves and make them believe that a physical concept of man is the undeniable fact of their being. However, the anti-Christ, or supposititious error, is powerless to obscure supreme, deathless, spiritual manhood as exemplified by the Master, Christ Jesus, who, when unbelievers doubted and accused him of being an impostor, answered, "The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me."John 10:25;

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A Bridge to Hope
April 17, 1971
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