Article April 4, 1983 Issue

How obedient should we be?

EDMONDE L. ST. JOHN

Several years ago, when one of our daughters was a high-school senior, I yielded to the temptation to circumvent a school regulation so that she might attend an all-day seminar in her planned field of study. Absences were excused only for illness. Since the seminar seemed a legitimate undertaking and because she would have received a zero for a scheduled test that day, I reluctantly agreed to report that she was ill.

Throughout her high-school years this girl had attained a high scholastic record, and her very infrequent absences had never been questioned. To our surprise, this time the school attendance office detained her when she returned to class the next day. Several telephone calls to the vice-principal and our admission that we had attempted to bypass the school regulation finally resolved the situation satisfactorily.

The lesson was unmistakable. I could see that honesty based on sincere obedience to divine Principle uplifts and protects us, whereas circumventing the truth brings suffering sooner or later. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy provides an unfailing standard: "Honesty is spiritual power. Dishonesty is human weakness, which forfeits divine help."^{Science and Health, p. 453.}