There would be little for us to learn from Jesus' exemplary career of good works and patient teaching if his career did not point to an imperishable, transcendent Principle available for all to understand. If Jesus had been merely a charismatic figure who attracted followers by personal magnetism, human dynamism, or mental energy, the Christian gospel would simply be another man-made philosophy or ism—not the divine message or "good news" able to free mankind from every limitation of the human condition.
Personal magnetism is an inexplicable, vagarious quality that is limited to the one who manifests it and seeks to use it in the manipulation of others. When he is gone from the scene, the power is also gone, or perhaps persists as a form of cultism among followers who still cling to their faith in the force of limited human personality.
Christ Jesus demonstrated the Science of impersonal, omnipresent Truth, and he showed this Science to be relevant and applicable to every human need. He took pains to discourage personal adulation and to clarify the nature of good to those who came to him for instruction. He identified good only with God, his heavenly Father, and he said plainly, "I can of mine own self do nothing." John 5:30; To the young man who addressed him as "good Master," he replied, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God."Matt. 19:16, 17;
