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Rules to Live By

From the September 1967 issue of The Christian Science Journal


One afternoon while riding in a train through the beautiful rolling plains of North Dakota, a college student and I began to talk about God, religion, and morals. My new friend said, "The other night on the campus a man gave us a lecture on the subject, 'God is dead!'" He continued: "That fellow was 'way out.' Anyone with intelligence knows that God exists."

The conversation then turned to other current religious views suggesting that the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount may be outmoded and that we should adjust our standards of moral conduct to prevalent custom and consensus. My college friend said: "That idea of flexible morality is 'way out' too. A fellow has to have a set of rules to live by."

God has given all of us a set of rules to live by, three great codes of action which lead Spiritward: the Ten Commandments, revealed to Moses; Jesus' Sermon on the Mount; and the Manual of The Mother Church by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. The Mosaic law bases all moral and spiritual conduct on the foundation of one God only. Obedience to this law satisfies, restores, regenerates. The Sermon on the Mount presents a series of keys to Christly conduct, and the promise of present reward when we walk prayerfully in the Master's way. The Manual lifts thought and action to the altitude of spiritual achievement. It intertwines the law and the gospel with a golden chain of rules whereby scientific Christianity may be demonstrated in daily living.

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