The following is a brief exposition of the important points, or religious tenets, of Christian Science:—

1 As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.

2 We acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God's image and likeness.

3 We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.

4 We acknowledge Jesus' atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man's unity with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death.

5 We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the nothingness of matter.

6 And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.

—Mary Baker Eddy
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 497

WHEN I WAS FIRST introduced to "the straight and narrow way" of adhering strictly to the Biblical truths as taught in Christian Science, I liked being "straight" with God—but wasn't sure about the "narrow way" part. I'd always attempted to be broadminded. Then I learned with relief that the narrow way of truth was not about narrowmindedness or ignorance, but about a deliberate choice to recognize that which is spiritual and scientific, over material hypotheses and human doctrines.

I find particularly helpful what Jesus made clear about the source of true doctrines. After declaring, "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me," he went on to say that "if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:16, 17). It is impressive that Jesus didn't propose any doctrines of his own; as always, he turned his followers to serving the will of his Father, the one Spirit.

Being willing to earnestly seek God's will and drop all human opinions, we can expect to hear angel messages of guidance. To help us be alert to receive those messages and be governed daily, even hourly, in doing God's will, we have the wisdom of the ages available through the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. What we might call an outline or summary of these important points appears in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures—there are six tenets and two doctrines given in this textbook of Christian Science.

The first of the tenets states simply, "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life" (p. 497). This tenet's very simplicity would belie its practicality, were it not for the revelations and guidance it brings to daily living. For example, Jesus said: "I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" (Matt. 6:25, Revised Standard Version).

When we trust the Bible as a "sufficient guide" on how to live this eternal Life today, we're greatly freed from the anxiety of daily decisions. This doesn't mean leaving such decisions up to mere impulse, or letting them be unduly influenced by custom and advertising; it means trusting them to prayer. I've found that every time I've felt impelled to compliment a woman on something she's wearing, if she's a Christian Scientist I invariably hear the response "It was a wonderful demonstration"—meaning that spiritual unfoldment had inspired the shopping trip and her choice.

While that kind of "message" may seem unimportant, even trivial, it really is just the opposite. The "little things" need our spiritually minded attention just as much as life's bigger issues, or they will sap our joyand and erode our faith. Accustomed to daily inspiration, we're more likely to pray our way through the big challenges to find spiritually derived solutions and a deeper faith. Allowing Biblical inspiration to guide all our decisions, large and small, we escape the humdrum of mere material living.

If we're to demonstrate fully the primary revealed truth of Christian Science—that matter is illusion, and Spirit and spiritual existence is the only reality—then small steps are just as important as big leaps. For example, I've found it useful to make it a rule never to go out on a "limited errand," but to be open to whatever good comes my way to give or to receive. Such fresh measures of good quietly prove that God is the real and substantial Power.

Jesus' feeding of the multitudes reminds me that it is Christ, God's healing influence in the world, which feeds us. We don't have to be anxious for ourselves or the hungry of the world, since, as Jesus taught, it is God who clothes and feeds us all. I find this comforting truth helpful when I'm praying for the world's less fortunate. Opportunities to help others often have come right on the heels of my conviction of God's universal care.

Letting the divine Mind outline our days takes off the stress of indecisiveness and the fear of mistakes. In this way we can fulfill this Biblical command and promise: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Prov. 3:5, 6). This passage makes clear that the "eternal life" of that first tenet doesn't begin sometime later; it is the God-directed life we are living today. This is the life Jesus referred to as being more than that which is fed and clothed materially.

The next four tenets, or important points, of Christian Science acknowledge the basic wisdom of the Bible; the oneness of God and man's relation to God as divine image and likeness; the presence of the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and the destruction of sin which comes by recognizing its unreality.

Much within these tenets refers specifically to Christ Jesus' teachings and healing ministry. Jesus' atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection, when accepted as directly related to our own daily lives, serve to show us the truly spiritual nature of being and to lift us above a limited material sense of ourselves. By assimilating these basic truths, we gain healing insights, and are moved to pray more diligently and scientifically for our world.

The final tenet elicits a promise from us "to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure" (Science and Health, p. 497). Making this promise is saying substantially that we will stay true to the important points of Christian Science. We'll let the inspired Word of the Bible guide us sufficiently so that we're not tempted to seek other guidance or means for health and happiness.

As I mentioned earlier, in addition to the tenets there are two statements of doctrine in Science and Health. The first one says, "This is the doctrine of Christian Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its manifestation, or object; that joy cannot be turned sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind nor life result in death" (p. 304).

I contemplate this doctrine frequently. And recently the idea that "good can never produce evil" stood out to me. I saw that evil in itself is never true, for God never produced it. Evil is simply error—and obviously, an error is not a thing in itself. It's a mistake. With this realization, I suddenly felt a great release. As the idea of God, the Child of Truth's creating, I had never actually known evil nor felt its impulses. Evil had never touched me or any of God's creation. It was a holy moment, and I understood the fact that all is good more deeply than ever before.

Prior to this moment, I'd been praying about a struggle with pain that had gone on longer than I was accustomed to. And though from my study of Christian Science I knew better, I'd found myself at times searching for the cause of the pain. When the doctrinal point "that good can never produce evil" came to mind as an angel message, the pain disappeared, and all that was in my consciousness was the wonderful realization that evil cannot be produced. This conviction is still very much alive in my thought today, and enables me to reject more quickly any suggestion that good (God) could produce something unlike itself.

The other doctrine found in Science and Health could almost be seen as a continuation of that first one: "That evil or matter has neither intelligence nor power, is the doctrine of absolute Christian Science, and this is the great truth which strips all disguise from error" (p. 454). We're frequently tempted to seek a cause for some problem, especially for physical troubles. Also, if a healing doesn't come quickly through our prayers, we too often begin to search for the reason why. When we steadfastly refuse to give material existence the intelligence to tell us anything, and insist that neither evil nor matter has power, error's disguise is destroyed. As in any science, so in Christian Science, the truth simply obliterates the error. By allowing Christ, Truth, to "strip off error's disguise" (Science and Health, p. 254), we hasten healing, which is really a revealing of the perfection that's always there.

Both these doctrines, as well as the six tenets, guide one's desire to stay true to the important points of spiritual living. In what has been called the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned that it isn't always easy to find and stay on the straight and narrow way. "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life," he said, "and few there be that find it" (Matt. 7:14).

While at any given time there may be relatively few who take this straight and narrow way, the faithfulness of those few keeps the way broad enough for others to enter. Staying true to the important points of Christian Science is indeed a way of choice—and the way to freedom.

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