Editorial October 18, 1993 Issue

Desire and the Seventh Commandment

Barbara M. Vining

He was offended by the thought. I had told him that Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health, "Desire is prayer ..." (p. 1). His reaction surprised me, because my concept of desire was to know God better and to follow His moral and spiritual laws.

This kind clergyman had come to visit me after he learned from a neighbor friend of mine (a member of his church) that I was studying Christian Science and was trying to decide whether to join the Christian Science Church. The questions he raised during our three cordial visits caused me to do some serious thinking and some thorough research in the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings. The answers I found were exceedingly satisfying, and I did join the local branch Church of Christ, Scientist.

Though I did not ask the minister why he was offended by Mrs. Eddy's linkage of desire with prayer, I have thought about it many times since. It is quite possible that he was associating desire with sexual desire, in which case his reaction would have been understandable. After all, desire guides actions; and human desire is not always noble. Our desires often need purifying before they can guide our actions rightly. Whether we realize it or not, our dominant desires—be they noble or ignoble—constitute our prayers and determine their outcome. No doubt the minister would have been reassured had I shown him Mrs. Eddy's full statement: "Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds."

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Testimony of Healing

I write this testimony with the hope that others may benefit...