Articles

On several occasions the Apostle Paul pointed out to the early Christian church the danger of splitting up into divisions or factions. He once wrote ( I Cor.

There is more security in one Godlike motive and act than in all the matter in the world. Security cannot exist in materiality, a state of thinking in which men deny the integrity of God and His creation.

In Christ Jesus' parable of the prodigal son, as recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Luke, it is made clear that the foolish wanderer, once he was truly repentant, found his father ready to receive him, not only with kind words of welcome, but with food and clothing. It is further brought out that the elder son who, we must infer, remained at home industriously working in the fields complained about the generous treatment accorded his erring brother.

If a claim were made to any of us for payment of something we had not purchased, there is no doubt that we would recognize at once the falsity of the claim; then we would deny it. With the same conviction should we refuse to accept the false claims constantly being presented to us through the press, radio, and television of a world in chaos and of sickness, sin, and death in all their myriad forms.

" Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. " This compassionate utterance found in Isaiah ( 40:1 ) is being universally fulfilled today through the inspired teachings of Christian Science.

When Zechariah asked the young man with the measuring line ( 2:2 ), "Whither goest thou?" he answered, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. " But quickly came the admonition of an angel, "Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein.

" 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.

Christian Science will heal us if we will take its applicable truths into our consciousness and allow them to replace permanently the false beliefs which alone are at the root of our difficulties. When our consciousness is thus brought under God's government, healing takes place in our experience.

Fear often prevents our turning wholeheartedly to God for release from some physical problem or from some unfortunate turn of events and thus keeps us from receiving the benefit which such a positive step would surely bring. We may find ourselves saying as did Job ( 3:25 ), "The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

There may be times in one's human experience when self-criticism is not only warranted but even desirable. Perhaps some important work has been left out of a busy schedule or, if taken care of, could have been done better.