Tell the Truth

Archive for September, 2008

Mrs. Eddy teaches that God does not know evil. Here’s a typical passage from Miscellaneous Writings.

 Mis 367:13-2
       Error says that knowing all things implies the neces-
   sity of knowing evil, that it dishonors God to claim that
15 He is ignorant of anything; but God says of this fruit
   of the tree of knowledge of both good and evil, “In the
   day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” If
18 God is infinite good, He knows nothing but good; if He
   did know aught else, He would not be infinite. Infinite
   Mind knows nothing beyond Himself or Herself. To
21 good, evil is never present; for evil is a different state of
   consciousness. It was not against evil, but against know-
   ing evil, that God forewarned. He dwelleth in light;
24 and in the light He sees light, and cannot see darkness.
   The opposite conclusion, that darkness dwelleth in light,
   has neither precedent nor foundation in nature, in logic,
27 or in the character of Christ.
       The senses would say that whatever saves from sin,
   must know sin. Truth replies that God is too pure
30 to behold iniquity; and by virtue of His ignorance of
   that which is not, He knoweth that which is, and
   abideth in Himself, the only Life, Truth, and Love,
 1  — and is reflected by a universe in His own image
   and likeness.

How can it be possible that God does not know of evil—of sin, disease and death? If so, how can God heal me of my problem?

Think of it this way. If you were walking across the desert with a knowledgable geographer and saw ahead of you the mirage of a lake, would the geographer know about it? To you, it’s there. You can see it, and yet it has no reality. By a play of light you see something that he doesn’t, because he knows the geography.

Sin, disease and death can seem very real to us because we seem to experience them, but they are illusory experiences brought about by the false beliefs of a material consciousness.

God doesn’t see them just like the geographer doesn’t see your mirage—and when you see the Truth, you won’t see your problem either and will no longer suffer from it.

 192:30
30 . Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed
   love, receives directly the divine power.

One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine. 

Sir William Osler, Aphorisms from his Bedside Teachings (1961) p. 105
British (Canadian-born) physician (1849 – 1919)

This passage from Mary Baker Eddy’s book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures has occupied my thought this morning:

 166:3-7
3 As a man thinketh, so is he. Mind is all that feels,
   acts, or impedes action. Ignorant of this, or shrinking
   from its implied responsibility, the healing effort is made
6 on the wrong side, and thus the conscious control over the
   body is lost.

“As a man thinketh, so is he.” This well-known saying referred to here by Mrs. Eddy has a Biblical origin. It comes from the book of Proverbs: “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Prov 23:7) and Mrs. Eddy’s statement concerning man’s “implied responsibility” needs to be seen within that context.

As I pondered the idea of implied responsibilities arising from Mind’s central role, my thought turned to other statements from the Christian Science textbook that to me fall within this arena:

• Mortals, obey the heavenly evangel. Take divine Science. Read this book from beginning to end. Study it, ponder it. 559:21
• Constantly turn away from material sense 21:10
• Look where you would walk 264:10
• Be honest; be earnest; gain a little each day in the right direction 21:12
• Stand porter at the door of thought 392:24

These admonitions are what Paul referred to the task before us: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Phil 2:12) Or as Mrs. Eddy put it:

 254:19 the
                                  the human self must be evangel-
   ized. This task God demands us to accept lovingly
21 to-day, and to abandon so fast as practical the material,
   and to work out the spiritual which determines the out-
   ward and actual.

Last night I got a phone call from an old friend that I haven’t heard from in 15 years. We got caught up on what we each had been doing. 

His story wasn’t pretty. He had moved to another town eight years ago to take a new job and was immediately faced with a breach of contract from the company that had hired him. After an out of court settlement, he started on a business refinishing old brass, working out of his garage. He was living with his ex-wife again, not out of love, but a mutual need—her life wasn’t going any better than his was. His best friend had recently died from a drug overdose. He was having trouble paying the bills. Years of drug abuse and sexual misbehavior were catching up with him. After living for 30 years in the country he was now living in town, and he was feeling like a fish out of water. His tale of misery went on and on.

This morning as I was driving to work, I became sad thinking about him. This was a depressing mortal picture if there ever was one, and feeling disturbed, I began to wrestle with this human picture using the Truth that I’ve learned through Christian Science. Like Jacob, I wouldn’t let go of the angel until it blessed me.

I was reminded of a wonderful stereo system that was playing rap music on it—an exquisite machine being put to a poor use. As God’s children, we reflect the divine image and likeness—God’s perfection. The mortal picture, however, frequently tells a different story. It is like offensive and grating music played on a lovely stereo. But the human picture doesn’t reflect the reality of being—the perfect image does, and I realized that I needed to look at the stereo, not judge the system by the music it was playing!

As I held this image in mind I found I was able to pray for my old friend, seeing him as God’s perfect child at this very moment. He has never been anything but the image of Love—cared for, provided for, nurtured and loved. He is that perfect child right now, with all of the lovely qualities of divine Mind. Divinely guided and inspired, he is being led to his heavenly home. Divine Love will not leave him in the delusion of mortal existence, but will lead him gently forward to the harmony of heaven, and that’s a picture I can hold to with a happy heart.

263:32-8

The fading forms of matter, the mortal body and material earth, are the fleeting concepts of the human mind. They have their day before the permanent facts and their perfection in Spirit appear. The crude creations of mortal thought must finally give place to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the camera of divine Mind, when the mental picture is spiritual and eternal. Mortals must look beyond fading, finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things.

 184:1
 1     The so-called laws of health are simply laws of mortal
   belief. The premises being erroneous, the conclusions
 3 are wrong. Truth makes no laws to regulate sickness,
   sin, and death, for these are unknown to Truth and should
   not be recognized as reality.

What does it mean that “Truth makes no laws to regulate sickness”? Mrs. Eddy is referring to material laws of health: take your vitamins, watch your diet, exercise, dress warm, get 8 hours of sleep, don’t sit too close to the TV, take off those wet clothes, take your medicine, watch your cholesterol, avoid poly-unsaturated fats, eat healthy food, etc.—all of the rules that mortal man has come up with to ensure and maintain health.
 
These are not God-given laws, but laws that materially-minded man has developed on his own. Divine Mind knows nothing about sickness; It knows only health. But mortal mind and it’s sickly thinking would: 

  176:17–19 load
                                             load with disease the
18 air of Eden, and weigh down mankind with superimposed
   and conjectural evils. 

 183:16-18
       The supposed laws which result in weariness and dis-
   ease are not His laws, for the legitimate and only possible
18 action of Truth is the production of harmony.  

Should we obey these so-called “laws of health”?

 229:19
                                                    The so-called law of 
   mortal mind, conjectural and speculative, is made void
21 by the law of immortal Mind, and false law should be
   trampled under foot.

Christian Science is clear: man cannot serve two masters.

“A servant cannot serve two masters. He will hate the first master and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and despise the second.  Luke 16:13 (GW)

For a Scientist, that master must be God.