Editorial April 19, 1982 Issue

The cornerstone of progress

WILLIAM E. MOODY

Spiritual progress is built on purity: pure motives, pure desires and actions, pure reasoning—purity in thought and experience. Purity can be described as the unadulterated sense of man's completeness as the reflection of God, Soul. It is untainted by materiality, sensuality, or any mortal element. When seen as the natural and inevitable state of the man God has made, and consequently cherished in the human heart, spiritual innocence can be brought directly into active, daily expression.

Christ Jesus' life presents the highest model of purity. He was without sin. From childhood to the crucifixion (and beyond the cross), his sinless consciousness of man's perfect, eternal unity with God enabled the Master to complete his healing and saving mission. In the resurrection, spiritual purity was essential to Jesus' demonstration of deathless life. And the extraordinary conclusion of his lifework on earth proved beyond question the singular importance of this purity to each one's growth in understanding God. He ascended.

All through Jesus' ministry, his teaching and healing work had illustrated the necessity and blessings of purity. He uplifted and redeemed sinners (see the example of Zacchaeus and of the woman taken in adultery^{See Luke 19:1-10; John 8:3-11.}), restoring what seemed a lost sense of integrity and moral innocence. He healed difficult cases where disease had cast its mark of uncleanness or debility (see the examples of the healing of a leper, the woman with an issue of blood, and the man cured at the pool of Bethesda^{See Matt. 8:1-4; Mark 5:25-34; John 5:2-9 .}). Through such powerful events the touch of the Christ, Truth, awakened men and women to a realization of their wholeness and true goodness. They were cleansed of false beliefs, ignorance, fear, sin.

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