IN the Manual of The Mother Church, Mrs. Eddy gives the following instruction (Art. VIII, Sect. 6): "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind. By his works he shall be judged,—and justified or condemned."
What is aggressive mental suggestion? According to Christian Science, this term means the attempt of mortal mind, or error, to obtrude upon one's thoughts and entice him or tempt him to think and do what he normally would not do. It is plain, then, that if a Christian Scientist daily, alertly, foils the attempts of evil to induce him to forget or to neglect "his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind," he will be a good witness to the law of God in all manner of healing activity. In this way he will be expressing the obedience that is spiritual responsiveness.
Popular theology presents man as the offspring of Adam, and therefore as a sinner, who is under condemnation and subject to punishment and death. Christian Science recognizes man to be the idea of God, made in His image, spiritual, sinless, free, subject only to God's law of harmony. One who understands that man, God's child, is under His love and constant care has nothing to fear. He is not under condemnation or subject to penalty. If when striving to do right one finds that good is evidenced in his experience, the belief that one does not deserve this is aggressive mental suggestion. It needs to be handled, destroyed, and replaced with the realization that God, the source of all that is real, is continuously blessing His son, man, and bestowing upon him all good.
