Articles

"How much does it cost?" Eyes shining with anticipated possession, the youngster gave the baseball mitt a few hearty pokes and punches, examined with approval the careful stitching and sturdy construction, and repeated, "How much did you say it cost?" "Oh, it will be a merry price!" "That's all right! Look what I'm getting!" What am I getting? What will it cost me? Is it worth it? Questions like these may arise in the minds of searchers for divine Truth. What is Truth? they ask.

Followers of worthwhile causes have undergone sometimes appalling conditions and mistreatment because of their absolute commitment to what they believed to be right. The early Christians withstood tremendous odds—persecution, torture, the threat of death—to further Jesus' teachings.

Christ Jesus referred to God as his Father, and as the Father of all who followed him. This claim of divine sonship infuriated the orthodox religionists of his day.

Nearly every day brings news that some record has been broken. Whether it is in the realm of sports, engineering, or scientific technology, the achievement is evidence of mankind's increasing triumph over limitation.

A disturbed child who had known nothing but abuse was taken into a kindlier atmosphere. At first, to the dismay of those who were trying to help him, the child clawed at their faces.

Do we find ourselves overwhelmed by the enormity of some problem? If we're delving deeper and deeper into the morass of sickness or lack, unhappiness or loss, we're likely to get stymied. The solution comes as we stop acting like a limited mortal trying to overcome some trouble from a material basis and begin to act like God's representative.

There is continuing need today for trustworthy defense—against slander, for example, criminal aggression, disease, superstition, occultism. Only absolute Truth provides an unfailing defense.

Picture a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl on summer holidays. She is in deep trouble at school, with her future uncertain.

One of the most joyful challenges before every Christian Scientist is to let divine Truth build in him such a strong defense of spirituality that should Truth's unreal opposite, animal magnetism, tempt him to be drawn to it like iron filings to a magnet, there will be nothing in him to respond to it. As we let Truth reveal itself in our thought and life, all latent and subtle forms of animal magnetism are brought out from under cover where we can clearly detect them and fully reject them as suppositional lies.

When those faithful, sorrowing women—Mary Magdalene, Salome, and the mother of James—went to the sepulcher at dawn, their purpose was to anoint the crucified body of Jesus with spices they had bought. When they entered the rock-hewn tomb, Mark tells us: "They saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.