Global decisionmaking

Questions about the future of life on earth lead to our most urgent moral questions. We ask, ''Will a growing nuclear arms stockpile push us toward destruction of life as we know it?'' And, ''How much can we tinker with the genetic building blocks of life before we bring about a biological disaster?'' The two questions evolve from the same assumption - that we are mortal beings, separate from God, left to ourselves to decide our destiny and the destiny of future generations.

It is as though mankind, in its technological progress, has to its own peril taken over the power and responsibility once attributed to God. Yet in order to make the crucial decisions we face, we long for infinite wisdom. We need prophetic vision to foresee and prevent the undesirable. And nothing short of omnipresence would seem to be able to detect and halt international deception and maintain security. These needs amount to a need for God. Have we lost God?

No. The spiritual might to which many have turned in individual distress is here and is available to humanity. The Bible offers inspiring accounts of deliverance of those who seemed beyond help. For example, Elisha, surrounded by an army, prayed that his servant's eyes be opened so that the servant could see their spiritual defense. Not only did God deliver them, but no harm came to those who would have attacked them. n1 As with the servant, our eyes need to be opened to see God's protecting presence.

n1 See II Kings 6:8-23.

Christ Jesus made clear for all time the divine laws that underlie creation. He proclaimed the kingdom of heaven - God's government - to be at hand. And he showed by healing physical ills, by bringing new life to those lost in sin, and even by raising the dead, that God is Love, that His children are perfect spiritual ideas, and that His government provides the tenderest and mightiest care for all of creation. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, ''our Father, '' he was opening up the most fundamental law of the universe and of man's nature. n2

n2 See Matthew 6:9-13.

Convinced that Jesus' works were not supernatural, but instead the result of divine law, Mary Baker Eddy studied the Bible, prayed as Jesus taught, and found she could heal by understanding God's uninterrupted control of the universe and man. She saw that the power of the healing Christ that Jesus demonstrated is still here to show us God's love. She called her discovery the Science of Christ , or Christian Science. Early in this century Mrs. Eddy came to have wide recognition as a world citizen; organizations and newspapers asked for her comment on important issues, including war and peace. She founded this newspaper and the Church of Christ, Scientist, itself.

These words from her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, offer a practical basis for global decisionmaking: ''The term Science, properly understood, refers only to the laws of God and to His government of the universe , inclusive of man.'' She continues further along: ''A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity.'' n3

n3 Science and Health, p. 128.

Prayer, rooted in an understanding of ''the Science of being,'' is a most scientific means for discerning God's government and for realizing the effects of that government in terms of global security. Through prayer we can perceive the unbroken relationship we have with God. Prayer enables us to see that it is in accord with divine law, with God's beneficent government, that we understand and prove in our lives the fullness of this relationship. We come to see that God, Spirit, is supreme, as Jesus proved, and that the supposed material forces that would deny His supremacy can be proved powerless.

We are not here to destroy the earth, but to demonstrate that Love's kingdom is at hand. As we pray, we can expect to see just how to do this - how to make the decisions that promote lasting security and true respect for all life. DAILY BIBLE VERSE If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God . . . ; and it shall be given him. James 1:5