Article March 21, 1988 Issue

Unexploitable innocence

The Christian Science Monitor

Looking out our window, I saw the ship Spirit. It had a new banner across the stern that read, "Mercy Ship Helping Hungry Children." My heart ached to do something. A donation of food or time would help. But I also wanted to participate in a more permanent solution to the needs of children in our world.

I thought of a series that ran in The Christian Science Monitor, "Children in darkness—The exploitation of innocence." These articles gave accounts of children who are used as human mine sweepers, who are forced into immorality, who are subject to inhuman working conditions. Poverty, greed, indifference, ignorance, were seen as reasons for this exploitation.

Many of us accept the truth of the Bible statement "God created man in his own image."^{Gen. 1:27.} In the Christian Science textbook Mrs. Eddy writes, "To emphasize this momentous thought, it is repeated that God made man in His own image, to reflect the divine Spirit."^{Science and Health, p. 516.} In a sense, innocence is exploited every time we think of ourselves or others as something other than the image of God. God is pure, devoid of anything evil. Therefore His image must be the same. This is the true, spiritual status of each one of us. But we fail to recognize that status when we indulge in negative, destructive thinking, the very kind of thinking that, whether we realize it or not, underlies the tragedy experienced by so many children as well as adults in our world.