Announcer: If you have to be out on the streets late at night or if your business takes you into sections with a high rate of crime, where do you look for your protection?

Questioner: There seems to be widespread fear of going out on the streets, especially at night. Is there something constructive an individual can do to protect himself other than just carrying protective weapons for counterviolence?

Speaker: I think we all face these situations at times. There certainly is need of better protection. But I wonder if it doesn't go back to reliance on something more basic than simply slum clearance, or better police methods, or improved street lighting—desirable as these things are.

The Bible offers practical help in this, although we may be inclined to feel sometimes that the Bible is far removed from the city street. And, yet, it really isn't, because it turns our thought to look beneath the surface of things, to get down to the fundamentals of the problem. Now, do we need protection from certain kinds of people, or do we need protection from certain kinds of thinking that seem prevalent in the world?

Questioner: Well, on the surface I feel we need protection from people. But really today, as in days past, isn't the way in which people are taught to think translated into their actions?

Speaker: Yes, and I think that's where the Bible is of such help, because the assurances that we are given in the Bible—the promises of protection—enter our experience through our thought.

For example, we read in Proverbs (3:23), "Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble." And the ninety-first Psalm says, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."

But our recognition of this protection comes through thought. The question is, how much we expect to happen as the result of being acquainted with these Bible verses and with other assurances of divine protection.

Questioner: Can a person reasonably expect such protection in today's world?

Speaker: Well, in Christian Science we believe that an individual has a right to expect protection if he's willing to deal with the root of the problem and not merely with the surface. And this gets down to the point that a situation has to be dealt with primarily in terms of thought—our own thought as well as that of the other fellow—rather than of physical conditions as such. If we agree that crime first takes form in thought, isn't it logical to reason that the prevention of violence likewise involves thought, namely, the effect that the right kind of thought has on the wrong kind?

Questioner: Yes.

Speaker: The individual confronted by a potential criminal has an immediate choice. With what kind of thought does he view his brother? Does he expect the worst, or does he turn the situation over to a higher power? This is the kind of situation in which the chips fall rather swiftly, and yet, this is the basic question. The Bible gives a wonderful basis in the book of II Timothy for viewing our brother, especially at a time like this (1:7): "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

This verse really sums up the basis, you might say, for deciding how we are seeing our brother. Are we viewing him as the so-called criminal type, a mortal possessed by hate, envy, fear, and frustration, as a total loser? Or are we praying to have revealed to us the man whom God created, the man loved by God, divine Love?

Questioner: Well, don't good people get hurt sometimes? Now, by good I mean people who are morally right and always do the right thing.

Speaker: It wouldn't be honest to deny that this kind of thing has happened, but I think this isn't a matter of being passively good or righteous. It's a matter of learning to see man as he spiritually is rather than as he appears to be.

This is brought out in one of the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. She says (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 61, 62): "Mortals seem very material; man in the likeness of Spirit is spiritual. Holding the right idea of man in my mind, I can improve my own, and other people's individuality, health, and morals; whereas, the opposite image of man, a sinner, kept constantly in mind, can no more improve health or morals, than holding in thought the form of a boa-constrictor can aid an artist in painting a landscape."

Questioner: This sounds fine in theory. Do you know how it has worked in practice?

Speaker: Yes, a woman I know, who lives not far from where we're talking right now, has to walk through a poorly lighted park to reach her home. It is her practice to turn her thought to God whenever she goes through this area.

She was going through this area one evening when without warning a man came up behind her and put a gun in her back. As she struggled, he dragged her through some bushes in the direction of a small river. For a few moments she was terrified, especially as it became clear that his motive was not robbery but something more vicious.

She was a Christian Scientist, and right in the midst of all this she turned to God with all her heart in prayer. She said that she was able to know with a deep inner conviction that God's power and presence are always equal to any situation, no matter how desperate. And then suddenly the man let go of her and ran as fast as he could in another direction. She said at first she thought that maybe someone was coming, but there wasn't a person in sight. When she had gathered herself together, she found that she hadn't been harmed, except for a wrenched arm and for some minor wounds on her head.

She notified the police and also called a Christian Science practitioner to help her keep her thought in proper relationship to God. She said she spent the night praying, and toward morning she was able to see clearly that the individual who had accosted her was really the child of God and that she could see his real nature as spiritual, upright, and pure, not having any desire or capacity to harm another person.

That morning she felt free to return to the place and recover her purse. And she found that everything was in it; not a cent was gone.

At first she had some difficulty with her arm. But then she realized that she had forgiven this man because she had awakened to his real. Godlike nature, and so she couldn't have any adverse effects any more than she could suffer from a bad dream that she had awakened from. Within an hour she had normal use of that arm, and the head wounds were healed.

In other words, her holding to man's real nature as she entered the area, right in the midst of the attack, and following that experience had not only protected her but had brought her healing. And it had prevented her assailant from committing a more serious crime.

To me, this is a very practical illustration of the value of embracing not only oneself in the power and presence of God but one's neighbor, one's brother, also.