Editorial July 6, 1981 Issue

Church—fortress of freedom

BEULAH M. ROEGGE

Why make it so hard to join a Church of Christ, Scientist? Many—church members and nonmembers alike—anguish over this, and usually it is a standard regarding smoking and drinking that seems so unfair. Perhaps someone feels he knows a person who drinks and smokes and who is much more Christian than a church member who doesn't. But this really misses the point. The reason for this standard isn't to decide who is the better Christian. The purpose of such a standard is to help people be progressively free of material reliances.

Church—God's Church—embraces all. In the Glossary of Science and Health, where Mrs. Eddy gives the metaphysical interpretation of Bible terms, is this: "Church. The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle." Science and Health, p. 583. The real Church is the very structure of reality. The real man, God's image, is both included in God's Church and includes all that Church embraces.

Church and man are inseparable. The better one understands his nature as the image and likeness of God, Spirit, the more comfortable he is in a church affiliation. Spiritually motivated, rightfully directed human activity draws the organization (the human church) and mankind closer together. It does not exclude and separate.

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