Articles (Continued) May 11, 2015 Issue

Spiritual education of our children

Dewitt John

Reprinted from the October 31, 1983, Sentinel

To a Christian Scientist, the right education of a child begins with a recognition of the child’s real identity—his whole and complete individuality as the offspring of God, the spiritual idea of perfect Mind. One’s great desire, as parent or friend, is to help the young person to recognize and bring out more clearly his true individuality—his intelligence, talents, capabilities, and worth—as the child of divine Love, the image of God. The absolute basis on which this approach rests is summarized in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, where Mary Baker Eddy writes, “Man is God’s reflection, needing no cultivation, but ever beautiful and complete.” ¹

What is needed is practical demonstration of this truth. A scientific understanding of man’s real identity and true relationship to God is the door to wisdom, the fountain of wisdom, the essence of wisdom. It is a source of strength, well-being, and guidance in the vicissitudes of life. The teachings of Christian Science abound in providing not only this incomparable spiritual foundation but also the means of its daily demonstration and proof.

Success in this demonstration requires a practical sense of priorities. The most basic and important education of a child or young person is spiritual and moral. It is of a more intimate and fundamental nature than the usual group activities. It cannot be left to schools or summer camps, peer pressures or television; even the spiritualizing influence of our Sunday Schools needs positive support from the home. Right education has to do with character building—not so much with what our young people know but with what they are.

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