Article July 3, 1976 Issue

We can filter out mental debris

Maintaining Pure Faith

THELMA J. SHIPMAN

Faith in God can lead us to spiritual understanding. Exercising, refining, and purifying our faith forwards spiritual growth, opening our consciousness to the divine reality of Life, Truth, Love. Unused or uncultivated, faith stagnates in the quagmire of human opinions and theories.

Those unfamiliar with divine metaphysics and its works may question the practicality of absolute faith in God alone to heal critical ailments. But faith, in Christian Science, is not merely trust in an unknown God nor trust in the personal ability of a Christian Science practitioner to petition God in behalf of a mortal. It is immaculate trust in the healing might and goodness of divine Principle, God, as understood, practiced, and taught by Christ Jesus. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that we may understand how this divine Principle heals the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over death." Science and Health, p. 25;

True faith is not a feeble acceptance of creeds or doctrines. It springs from the clear perception of God as the loving Father —as omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient Mind, Spirit; from the consciousness of our unity with the source of true being; from a cognizance of life—all activity—as emanating from and controlled by God alone, and of man as the humble servant of the one creator. We read in Pulpit and Press by Mrs. Eddy: "The foundation of enlightened faith is Christ's teachings and practice. It was our Master's self-immolation, his life-giving love, healing both mind and body, that raised the deadened conscience, paralyzed by inactive faith, to a quickened sense of mortal's necessities,—and God's power and purpose to supply them." Pul., pp. 9-10;

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