Speaker: Have you ever heard someone say something like this: I've tried to be more understanding, loving, helpful, and kind, but it's just not my nature to be that way? Well, that's what our guest had accepted about herself. The result was bitterness and frustration. But then something happened that changed all this. She began to learn the facts of man's real nature, man's divine nature as Christ Jesus understood it. Now I'm going to ask Miss Ruth Bradford, of Arlington, Virginia, to tell you how this transformed her whole life.

Miss Bradford: Well, to start at the beginning, I'd always been religiously inclined; I was a student of the Bible. And after graduating from college, I worked for several years with an interdenominational group, mainly with young people.

But in spite of my efforts to be of service to others, I felt I didn't really have the answers. There were some very unpleasant traits of character I wasn't able to overcome—brusqueness, aggressiveness, sarcasm.

You see, I felt that while I conscientiously tried to live what Jesus taught and to help others, there were too many times when the result was failure. There was a growing sense of belligerence, frustration, and a feeling of not fitting into society. And the more I read the Bible, the more it troubled me. I thought, "Well, I don't understand it." So I quit reading it altogether. I decided I wouldn't try any longer to overcome personal characteristics. I foolishly concluded God had made me that way, and I would have to accept it.

So I withdrew my church membership, moved to another city, and got a job there. I took up smoking and social drinking, and I tried to satisfy myself with intellectual things—to forget I had any religious inclinations. Like the prodigal son, I wasted some years. Yet, even though I couldn't understand God, still I knew there was a God.

Then I got to know several Christian Scientists, and eventually I went to live with one. I didn't know anything about her religion; I thought it just didn't recognize the realties of life. But with this friend I noticed that if a difficulty came up—a physical problem or something else—it was always solved, either through her own prayers or with the help of a Christian Science practitioner.

So when I was alone, nobody else around, I started reading the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. I began to see that this book explained the Bible in a completely logical way. It explained God and man in such a way that I understood who I really was.

One of the things that meant the most to me was a verse from I John that no one had ever pointed out to me before, which includes the words, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God."

Science and Health was making it clearer to me that the Christ, the divine nature of Jesus, was the godliness which he expressed and which he discovered in others. And this was why Jesus healed: he recognized man as the likeness of God, the son of God, now. I saw that the right approach is not just to try to reform a mortal who has some faults, but to recognize man as he really is, spiritual and perfect now. I felt that I needed to turn away from the false, mortal concept of myself and find the real man, my divine nature as God's likeness.

This was the way I could find my freedom. I began to see that any unpleasant characteristics that seemed to be attached to me were absolutely false and powerless, no true part of man.

Everything about my life began to change. The feeling of having to fight the whole world began to give way. Those undesirable traits of character faded out. And the change was reflected in my work.

For instance, on one occasion there was a lot of tension, resentment, and jealousy in the library where I was working. But again I turned to this new understanding of God and man. Very soon the tension was broken; injustices were resolved; and everybody was happy.

You see, my whole life was revolutionized through the study of Christian Science! It was a wonderful thing that happened to me. The change in disposition was radical; I even looked different! And I've found that my efforts to be of service to others are much more effective. I certainly have a lot to be grateful for.

Speaker: Thank you, Miss Bradford. That feeling of complete frustration and bitterness isn't unlike that which so many people are struggling with. But you've helped by telling how you found the answer that led to freedom and peace of mind.

The answer our guest found is always at hand. Christ Jesus showed how close it is when he said, "The kingdom of God is within you." You see, it's always within our own consciousness that an adjustment needs to take place.

Christian Science shows that good is inherent in man as God's likeness. Because God, divine Love, is infinite, ever-present good, ever available. And spiritual Love is forever expressing this goodness through your divine nature and mine.

But, you know, for centuries many have believed themselves to be miserable sinners, with little hope of ever being good enough to get into the kingdom of God—the kingdom which the Master said is "within you."

Now Jesus never called those he healed miserable sinners. But he did command them to stop sinning, to be well, to rise, to walk, to see. In other words, he urged them to recognize their own perfect, sinless nature as the sons of God, now!

This was the awakening our guest had when she read those words of John: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." And she began to understand that this was how Jesus healed: by recognizing in others the divine nature, the godliness, which he expressed so perfectly.

Before I go further, I'd like to explain that Christian Science accepts, without question, the divinity of the Christ. But Christian Science also shows the distinction between the human man, Jesus, and the Christ. This is very important to you and to me, because it will help us to understand our own real nature, the kingdom of God within us.

I'd like to read you two of the passages from Science and Health, where Mrs. Eddy makes this distinction. Here is the first one (p. 473): "Jesus is the name of the man who, more than all other men, has presented Christ, the true idea of God, healing the sick and the sinning and destroying the power of death." And this is the other passage (p. 26): "This Christ, or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine nature, the godliness which animated him."

You see, friends, you and I will find our own Godlike nature as we recognize man to be the beloved child of God—now! Then, as our guest did, we shall stop thinking of ourselves as struggling against impossible odds, against unpleasant traits of character, which are no real part of spiritual man. As we do this, we shall demonstrate man's God-given authority over the discords that beset us. This is explained in Science and Health as follows (p. 248): "Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love—the kingdom of heaven—reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear."

The musical selection on the program was Hymn No. 166 from the Christian Science Hymnal (Know, O child, thy full salvation).