Article December 7, 1987 Issue

The sustaining power of moral courage

Marcia Page Wiesendanger

Moral courage is often mistaken for mere human fortitude—a stoic acceptance of mental and physical suffering. Viewed from a spiritual standpoint, moral courage is something quite different. Moral courage doesn't simply endure evil's claim to oppose good; it maintains the victory on the side of good. It enables us to gain a sense of peace in times of challenge because it reinforces our understanding of the knowledge, derived from the Bible, that only good is real and true, since God is good.

The founder of Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth, is the world's shining example of moral courage. In allegiance to God, his Father, he said: "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true."^{John 5:31,32.} Ever loyal to his identity as the Son of God, Christ Jesus healed discord as naturally as the sun shines. He said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."^{John 5:17.}

Is there any other choice but to heal when the Father is ever bearing witness to the son? Isn't this a demand upon every Christian? The practice of Christianity demands the moral courage that rests its confidence in God, Mind, not in matter. Recognition of the oneness of Father and son, Mind and idea, enables us to heal because we are accepting our true nature as God's offspring. Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy states: "Moral courage is 'the lion of the tribe of Juda,' the king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open field, or rests in 'green pastures, ... beside the still waters.'"^{Science and Health, p. 514.}