FROM THE EDITORS November 5, 2007 Issue

THAT RISKY FIRST COMMANDMENT

The Editors

TO LOOK AT THE WORLD these days is to see many opportunities that also seem filled with risk. These include establishing peace in (among other places) Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Iraq; finding stability among global financial markets; eliminating terrorism. These goals often seem almost impossible to achieve. And yet, there is reason for hope.

To help the world reach a better place—and to defeat evil's devious ways—we can find guidance in a communion address Mary Baker Eddy gave in 1896, during the Crimean War. At one point she said, starkly: "Evil was, and is, the illusion of breaking the First Commandment, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me:' it is either idolizing something and somebody, or hating them: it is the spirit of idolatry, envy, jealousy, covetousness, superstition, lust, hypocrisy, witchcraft" (Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, p. 123).

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