Meeting the nuclear threat

Most of us don't have our hands on the levers of political or military power. In fact we may sometimes feel at the mercy of decisionmakers whose wisdom we question. War, in particular, looks like the result of conferences we don't attend and forces outside even our limited control. Is it possible for us to increase the sanity and safety of nations?

The Bible states, "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." n1 Because our heavenly Father, the creator of all, is infinite Mind, the true creation consists of His spiritual ideas, infinite like Himself and having no material nature. Man is the highest idea of God; Deity's complete reflection. This fact makes plain exactly how "God Omnipotent reigneth," for no idea can disobey the divine Mind conceiving it.

n1 Revelation 19:6;

Heaven is God's heavenly consciousness. Everyone's real selfhood is in heaven now and forever. Isn't this what Christ Jesus was telling people when he said, "The kingdom of God is within you"? n2

n2 Luke 17:21;

If God's kingdom is within us, why did Jesus have to teachm people this great truth and illustrate it by his healing works? Because a mortal or material sense of existence deceives and makes creation seem to be material. The fact is , it is spiritual.

Material sense is the very essence of sin -- and sin is wrong thinking before it is wrongdoing. It is misunderstanding God, man, and the universe. It belongs to the fundamentally mistaken carnal mind, which can't be explained in terms of reason because it's irrational. This illusive mentality forms the evil thoughts and desires that produce discord of every kind, including the menace of nuclear war.

To get rid of evil conditions, or the many possibilities of encountering them , we have to wipe out the evil thoughts and feelings that cause them. We can't do this by ourselves. We have to go to God for better thoughts, holier aspiration, clearer insights into the truth of man and all existence. We need to learn, for our own and mankind's deliverance from evil, that evil thinking, with its tragic fantasies of involvement in matter must be renounced. Instead of letting beliefs in atomic substance and power shape our outlook on life, we have to turn to God and find our safety and fufillment in sonship to him.

"It should be thoroughly understood," says Mary Baker Eddy n3 "that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established." n4

n3 Mrs. Eddy is the discoverer and Founder of Christian Science;

n4 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m p. 467.

Does working toward this long-term goal seem irrelevant to the nuclear perils of our day? It is strictly relevant. We can't postpone bringing our individual lives into accord with God on the ground that something else is more urgent. The nuclear threat to civilization is a specific eruption in human thinking. Only as these dark shadows of base desires and fears and mistaken values are routed by divine wisdom and love will the balance of human choice tip away from war toward peace.

Of course nations must do whatever they can toward restricting and abolishing nuclear weaponry. But aren't leaders in any political regime sensitive to the prevailing moral tone, the fear or courage expressed in those they lead? It's said we get the government we deserve, but don't we also help create the leaders we need?

Fears seems catching; but spiritual love, which destroys fear, is even more contagious. As we receive and express it in kindness, service to others, forgiveness of wrongs, readiness to see and encourage good in others, we find divine law leavening the community around us -- and consequently its relations with the wider world beyond -- with the only power that will finally make peace on earth permanent. DAILY BIBLE VERSE I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth . . . . And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I willbetroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies . Hosea 2:18, 19