Articles

In the year 1866 there came to Mary Baker Eddy the revelation that Christ Jesus' gospel of the kingdom of heaven was the good news of the heavenly Father's ability to heal and save mankind not only in Jesus' time but for all time. That for which he gave his earthly all had for centuries become to an extent abrogated.

A glorious opportunity for individual spiritual growth lies in the experience of every member of a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, if he is daily availing himself of the privileges which membership in the Christian Science organization affords. No one thing, in the life of a member of a Christian Science church, is fraught with greater possibilities for individual spiritual attainment than is the experience of those who conscientiously, faithfully, and fearlessly meet and fulfill the obligations which devolve upon them as church members.

The longing for liberty inherent in the hearts of men is the natural revolt against oppression, since man's real state is one of freedom. This longing is the expression of mankind's insistent urge toward a knowledge of real, spiritual existence.

During the centuries immediately preceding the birth of Jesus, Hebrew, as a spoken language, gradually fell into disuse, being displaced by the more colloquial dialect known as Aramaic. Evidence of this gradual change is to be found even in the days of Nehemiah, who lived about 450 B.

Perhaps there is no word in the English language that conveys to human thinking two such diametrically opposed meanings as does the word "ambition. " It is usually taken to mean the desire and effort to rise to the top, to acquire riches or attain a position of prominence, oftentimes without regard to the unhappiness that this climbing may bring to others.

In the fourth chapter of II Kings is related an incident the meaning of which is revealed by spiritual understanding gained through the study of Christian Science. This is the story of the widow who, when faced with the creditor's threat to take into bondage her two sons, appealed for aid to the prophet Elisha.

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" ( p. 58 ) Mary Baker Eddy says, "Home is the dearest spot on earth, and it should be the centre, though not the boundary, of the affections.

It is comforting to learn in Christian Science that evil is not a real entity, and that it has no more apparent power than we, in belief, give it. Evil is nothing claiming to have entity and presence.

On a little girl's bookshelf long ago there was a worn copy of "Aesop's Fables," much read and often pondered. The little girl has grown up and learned something of Christian Science, but she still finds food for thought in many of those brief stories.

Answering the question, "What is God?" our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has given this concise and comprehensible definition in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" ( p. 465 ): "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.