Christian Science is Christian. It never leaves the foundational teachings of Christ Jesus: God the one Father of all, man the beloved son of God, Christ the divine ideal, Spirit the only substance, law the divine will. Jesus consistently showed the relevance of these truths to human life. His absolute statements were far from mere abstractions; they had a powerful effect upon people. He implemented his statements of spiritual facts by radically eliminating whatever claimed to reverse them. He proved the power of Truth. He revealed reality. He showed up the falsity, the unreality, of materialism.

Jesus educated the people who would listen to him. He made clear what was good for them, and some of them didn't like it. They left the ranks of his followers. Perhaps they helped to crucify him later on. Those who were faithful found that all the Master taught could be applied in practical ways. Many could heal. Some could raise the dead. They possessed a spiritual joy that made life worth living even in the face of scorn and persecution.

Jesus' educational method included preaching and healing as well as teaching. He spoke of himself as "a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God." ^{John 8:40;} Mary Baker Eddy says, "Lives there a man who can better define ethics, better elucidate the Principle of being, than he who 'spake as never man spake,' and whose precepts and example have a perpetual freshness in relation to human events?" ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 269;}

Today the stepped-up tempo of human events demands a suitable and scientific application of Christian fundamentals to those events. A religion must be relevant to the problems of the day just as an educational system must be. How relevant are the teachings of Christian Science? Are they not exactly as relevant to contemporary problems as the precepts of Jesus proved to be in his age? Indeed they are, for the truth is relevant in any age. People who accept Christian Science find their concepts changing to conform to the truths stated earlier in this editorial; and they are guided in wisdom in coping with today's events.

Take race relations, for instance. Once a student of Science realizes that man is the image of God and not a mortal, subject to material, racial inheritance, his attitude toward all minorities changes. Since "God is no respecter of persons," ^{Acts 10:34;} as the Bible teaches, neither is His son. Compassion is then linked with wisdom in working out inequities, and emotion is subordinated to intelligent steps taken.

The teaching of universal sonship with God revealed by Christian Science is relevant to the discarding of war or the wiping out of poverty in contemporary society. Whether one joins a march, attaches himself to a demonstration of protest, or joins a peace movement is secondary to his understanding of man's sonship with God and to the need for acting from this basis.

The teachings of Christian Science regarding moral law are as relevant to the slipping standards of today as were the precepts of Jesus regarding that law in his day. He said, "Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." ^{Matt. 5:18;} What could be more carefully pinpointed than these words? Moral law is here to stay. There is no valid glossing over of the demand for moral uprightness. Morality that is grounded in divine law, the force that is God's will, is certain to strengthen character. And this strengthening will help mankind deal with the onslaughts of animal magnetism, or active evil, which may appear in the years ahead either as disease or as debilitating sin.

The population explosion provides many trying situations in human affairs. For one thing, it calls for industrialization of populous nations. And this means for many a struggle against the loss of individual initiative. Christian Science makes the distinctness of individuality so important and so demonstrable that no one need let himself become a cog in a relentless wheel. Mass society can never deprive anyone of his individual expression of Spirit, for God made His ideas different, and this is demonstrable truth. Each one can feel his dignity and importance as he realizes that in Science no idea can fulfill the function of another. This is practical, scientific information and prevents human life from becoming stereotyped.

Christian Science prepares its students for any right service to mankind. It equips them to be intelligent, honest, compassionate, and self-governed. The truth of man's real being which these students receive is relevant to every little problem that may arise, as well as to every great one. Students of Science learn to prove that God is the only Mind, the inexhaustible source of man's thoughts, his substance, his activity, his life.

Truth understood liberates men from every limitation of good. It is relevant to the gradual demonstration of infinite reality. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says, "It is essential to understand, instead of believe, what relates most nearly to the happiness of being." ^{Science and Health, pp. 285, 286.}

Education should always relate to the problems of the age in which students are plunged. But Christian Science educates those who accept it in ways which are infinitely relevant because they are divine. The truths of Science are referable to every age and to every individual. They are practical because they destroy all that is evil or ungodly in human thought and preserve all that is good and real.

Helen Wood Bauman