On my first Sunday as a newly enlisted sailor in the British Royal Navy, at a church parade in a naval base in the south of England, the chief gunner's mate in charge of the parade bellowed, "Church of England on the right, Roman Catholic on the left, Nonconformists in the center!"

As I had just arrived from Scotland and had grown up within the general atmosphere of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, I was neither Church of England nor Roman Catholic. So I paraded with the Nonconformists.

Afterward, I looked up Nonconformist in a dictionary. It defined a Nonconformist as "a person who does not conform to an established church; especially ... to the Church of England."

Officially, I was a Nonconformist. But it made me think about the way we categorize religious beliefs and how these groupings sometimes affect our thoughts about each other. In Scotland, the religious teaching I had received had emphasized conformity to the Bible as the guide for daily living. Conformity to "an established church" seemed somewhat alien.

"What," I wondered, "is true conformity?"

Among my belongings was a Bible. I also had a copy of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. With these two books I looked for an answer. What I found was this: True conformity is practicing God's laws of love in the way Christ Jesus did.

In the Bible I read of Jesus looking at people with compassion and of sick people being healed. Science and Health says: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed thesick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy" (pp. 476–477).

The Bible told me that God is Spirit and is the creator of the universe, including man. It spoke of Jesus' ability to demonstrate the spiritual nature of God's universe and to show that God is Love.

Science and Health defined Love as divine Principle, as Truth and Love. The rule of Principle is the law that underlay Jesus' healing words and works. The author explained how her own understanding of God's law enabled her to heal through divine Love in the way Jesus did. God's healing power, she showed, is no less present today than it was in Jesus' time.

The truth of God and man was becoming clearer. But it raised a question. Was there a basic rule for practicing this truth? Was there a guideline, or discipline, which, if obeyed, would enable me, or anyone else, to think and to heal like the master Christian?

The answer, for me, was in Science and Health. The last item in a list of six main points, or Tenets, of Christian Science says, "And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure" (p. 497).

Here, plainly, was a basic rule for Christian practice, no matter what religious denomination I belonged to. But the Second World War was going on, ships were being sunk, friends and relatives were being killed. My inclination was to hate enemies rather than love them as Jesus taught. Nevertheless, I made a decision "to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in [me] which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as [I] would have them do unto [me]; and to be merciful, just, and pure."

It wasn't easy. And it hasn't been any easier in the years since. All too often I've wandered off course. But the remedy has always been the same: get back onto the true course.

Watching is a key factor. You have to watch your own thinking. You have to guard against ungodly influences. You have, in fact, to be as truly unwilling to conform with evil as you are truly striving to conform with good.

One particular thing I learned from Jesus' example was how to relate obedience to naval law, military law, English law, and a host of other laws to the practice of God's law. An account in Mark's Gospel had the message. A group of Pharisees were trying to compile a list of faults against Jesus for the purpose of destroying his influence. They asked him if it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar (see chap. 12:13–17). At the time, the Jewish people were under Roman rule. A negative reply would have branded Jesus as a rebel in the eyes of the Romans. An affirmative reply would have offended the Jews. Either way he would have been condemned.

Recognizing the real intent of the question, Jesus said, "Bring me a penny, that I may see it." When the penny was brought to him he asked whose image was on the coin. Told that it was Caesar's, he said, "Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's." The account tells us, "They marvelled at him."

To me, Jesus was indicating that the essence of civil and of spiritual law is not found in intellectual arguments but in the actual practice of the law. He emphasized this at another time when he said, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Matt. 7:12). "Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's" was the practical guidance I needed.

After returning to civilian life I joined the Church of Christ, Scientist, and signed my name to its Tenets. According to the dictionary definition, I am still a Nonconformist, but by dint of watching and praying in the way Christian Science teaches, I'm learning to see beyond enemies and enmity, beyond racial and religious divisions, to a better view of mankind. I'm learning, in a measure, to see as Jesus saw, to perceive God's perfect, spiritual man. I'm learning to conform to God's laws.