Many who take up the study of Christian Science are puzzled by the fact that some who profess to be Christian Scientists exhibit qualities that fall short of perfection. If man is the perfect reflection of the perfect God, they ask, how can one who understands this think imperfect thoughts or live an imperfect life? The puzzlement is aided and abetted by the pronouncements of some who act unkindly or dishonestly and attempt to justify their actions with quotations from the Bible or the writings of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy.

To understand this question, we need to consider the implications of Christ Jesus' experience with his disciples. Here were twelve men who left their customary ways of life to follow the great Exemplar of the Christ, Truth. They walked with him, listened to his teachings, heard his flawless answers to their questions, and witnessed his incomparable healing works. Yet Luke records two instances when the disciples disputed among themselves "which of them should be accounted the greatest." ^{Luke 22:24; see also 9:46;} When Jesus should have had their support at Gethsemane, the disciples slept. Judas betrayed him. Peter lost the courage to stand up for Jesus and denied him three times. After the resurrection, Thomas refused to believe Jesus was Jesus until he saw the wounds on his body.

After the disciples had seen the risen Jesus, they went fishing and caught nothing until he appeared on the shore and rebuked them, "Cast the net on the right side." ^{John 21:6;} Mrs. Eddy gives us the essence of this event: "His gloom had passed into glory, and his disciples' grief into repentance,—hearts chastened and pride rebuked. Convinced of the fruitlessness of their toil in the dark and wakened by their Master's voice, they changed their methods, turned away from material things, and cast their net on the right side." ^{Science and Health, pp. 34. 35;} If we stop here, we might conclude that the moment we accept the truth of spiritual being our lives become examples of perfection. But see what Mrs. Eddy says in the sentence that follows: "Discerning Christ, Truth, anew on the shore of time, they were enabled to rise somewhat from mortal sensuousness, or the burial of mind in matter, into newness of life as Spirit."

If the disciples rose "somewhat from mortal sensuousness" through these dramatic experiences, and after three years of close association with one through whom the Christ-idea shone most vividly, should we expect those who take up the study of Christian Science, even those who actively practice its healing truths, to have ascended above all mortal sensuousness? Should we not rather be patient with one another, recognize the good this Science has done for these individuals, and realize that what all of us still have to overcome will yield more rapidly as we support one another humbly, honestly, and in love for the perfect idea, the Christ?

The Christ-idea is the basis of Christian Science healing. It presents the absolute perfection of man as God's image or idea. It includes one Mind of man expressing perfect harmony, perfect love always. The explanations of the Christ, Truth, by Mrs. Eddy, when earnestly studied, enable us to see what God is—Life, Spirit, Soul, Principle—and how man exists as the expression, manifestation, reflection, or idea of all that God is. As we study, we get glimpses of spiritual reality far beyond our present understanding, but these glimpses lift us higher, and we understand a little more.

We find that when working to understand the healing Christ, Truth, we need to claim for ourselves the perfection that reflects God, and we need to deny imperfection. When we do, we experience healings of imperfections—of character traits and of disease. But continued success in the practice of the Science of healing demands honesty with oneself.

The real man is perfect. While we claim this truth for ourselves and deny the beliefs that claim we are less than what the perfect One creates, we need also to express this perfection to the best of our ability in our human living. And this means, among other things, facing up to our human shortcomings. Unless we have actually followed Jesus' advice "Cast out first the beam out of thine own eye," ^{Luke 6:42;} it does little good to try to remove the mote from a brother's eye. And it does much harm to set another human being on such a high pedestal that he cannot, except in pretense, live up to the standard of goodness we are setting for him.

In the Christian Science platform in the textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy explains the divine perfection as the reality of man's being and imperfection as the unreality. And she includes this statement: "Christian Science demonstrates that none but the pure in heart can see God, as the gospel teaches. In proportion to his purity is man perfect; and perfection is the order of celestial being which demonstrates Life in Christ, Life's spiritual ideal." ^{Science and Health, p. 337.}

Carl J. Welz