Article March 17, 2014 Issue

Judge? No thanks, I’d rather bless.

Manuela Meier

As a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) guardian ad litem for abused and neglected children, teens, and sometimes young adults, I have usually found it very easy to love them for their God-given innocence, resilience, and ability to rebound from bad human conditions. They have taught me much, especially about forgiveness.

With regard to the offending parent or parents, however, it has taken me years to realize that the various corrective and court-ordered therapies available for addictions, anger management, parenting, etc., can help, but they serve only as temporary fixes. While I respect what these approaches are meant to do, it’s my view that many are based on the belief in both evil and good existing and holding sway in the universe. Also, there is the popular, yet false, idea that man can be separated from his source, God.

In my study of Christian Science, I’m continually learning that there is only one reality, God’s reality. And God’s idea, man, is not perfectible; he is perfect. Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). A statement that expands on this concept is found in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “God is the creator of man, and, the divine Principle of man remaining perfect, the divine idea or reflection, man, remains perfect” (p. 470).