In a letter to First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, wrote: “As an active portion of one stupendous whole, goodness identifies man with universal good. Thus may each member of this church rise above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 165).
Mrs. Eddy makes a similar statement in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, where she writes, “Man’s genuine selfhood is recognizable only in what is good and true” (p. 294).
In the Bible, the first chapter of Genesis states that man is made in the image and likeness of God. It also states that everything God made is very good. Therefore, man, His spiritual image and likeness, must always be good. This means that we, in our true selfhood as God’s creation, are always imparting or reflecting the love, joy, honesty, and integrity that exemplify God, Life, Truth, and Love. We can and should identify ourselves this way—and we are also able to identify others in that same way, refusing to accept a false picture of an imperfect mortal, and vehemently insisting on each individual’s perfection as the reflection of God, Love. We can ask ourselves, Am I recognizing the good qualities and true identity of this individual, or am I being fooled into believing he or she is someone God wouldn’t recognize?
