Perhaps nowhere in the "Church Manual" does Mrs. Eddy throw down the gauntlet to Christian Scientists more emphatically than the section "Healing Better than Teaching" (92: 3-11). If Christian Science fades wimply into the sunset it will be largely because this litmus test for genuine Science and Scientists was not passed. That paragraph should be a vitalizing challenge for any Christian Scientist who hungers and thirsts to be worthy of the name.
Seasoned Scientists know that any attempt to grow spiritually and burgeon in demonstration will be countered by a plethora of the Adversary's discouraging arguments. One aim should be to dwell "home, home on the [spiritual] range . . . where never is heard a discouraging word." An article in the most recent issue of "The War Cry", The Salvation Army's biweekly magazine, had in it a phrase that caught my attention: "to make yourself unavailable". That reminded me of part of the generic message that is sometimes prerecorded on answering machines: "We are unavailable to take your call." If all Scientists could learn to be always unavailable to meet with and listen to animal magnetism "in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono" it would be a boon.
It is self-evident that if one consents to listen to, observe, react to, shrink in fear from, or argue with matter or any phase of materiality he cannot be free from the claims presented. The angels came and ministered unto Christ Jesus after he had completely rejected each of the devil's temptations. All true Scientists should learn to listen only to those unheard sweeter melodies (Keats) which will "wake a white-winged angel throng/ Of thoughts" and thereby divorce from the spiritual selfhood which they are proving day by day their "Earth-bound hearts" (Hymn #265).
Note: There was a request in a recent comment to weigh in (again) on the subject of Bible prophecy of Mrs. Eddy. As Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener repeatedly stated: "I would prefer not to." I've had my little say on the topic in (much) earlier entries, though it would take a forced march to locate them, I admit. Fortunately, there is what I would consider a definitive treatment of the subject in Stephen Gottschalk's "The Emergence of Christian Science in American Religious Life" (pp.166-67).
There was also yet another feeler sent out to elicit my name, etc.. That question, too, has been responded to. Does it really matter, anyway?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
19 comments:
Very well said, blogger. What an important topic you've chosen to write on.
Thanks much,
Yes, cultivating a discriminating consciousness has never been more urgent, in my opinion. So much comes at us, audibly and otherwise, that we must watch carefully what we take in.
Think of what our Leader points out in the textbook about evil hastening to a greater development of power and the need to consider whether it is the divine Mind or the human mind influencing us. Never been more important, has it?
Another good essay, Christian!
Something that helps me a lot is realizing that I am the reflection of divine Mind, God and that He in essence is doing the thinking for me. This tunes out a great deal I don't need to take into thought.
It's a pleasure to read something so well written, and I hope you keep on blogging.
That's neat point you bring out from the Salvation Army article, "making ourselves unavailable."
Appreciate you, blogger.
You do keep turning them out, professor, and essays much better than others on the Net.
Many thanks to you,
Extremely well written. And as to revealing your identity (which no doubt many are curious about) don't do it! You are reaching many in the world, and no need to have unnecessary mental interference from places one would not expect.
Good job, blogger. You show such steady devotion to God, to Christ Jesus and to Christian Science.
God bless you, Christian for the good you are doing in this world of ours!
Do you know one reason I like your blog better than others? Because you make demands on your readers rather than just tossing out some fluffy metaphysical point they can "hold to".
I'm so grateful CS teaches us to acknowledge that the one Mind is in control of all things, and to seek guidance from this all-knowing Mind.
All you have been doing through your website for our great and holy Cause is so much appreciated. Inspiring blog posts!
Point well taken, Christian. The corollary is, that being unavailable to the suggestions of evil makes us available to heal. This was greatly helpful this morning, when just as I read this I was seized with a most uncomfortable stomach cramp. In fact, I thought my whole middle was the plain of Ono. tThen I lighted upon this week's Golden Text and thought "no, my health and well-being and integrity are from God and shall be forever.' Something like that. Anyway, after more prayer along these lines order was restored and I'm able to finish what I started to write. Thanks, Christian.
The Plain and the city upon it of Ono were real places, remarkable mostly for their English homophone (Oh no!) and the fact that the Hebrew looks like a parody of the tetragrammaton (yod-he-vav-he, or 'I am that I am'). It is alef-vav-nun-vav. Sort of upside down and sideways. Maybe it's Material Sense saying 'Oh no, I'm not real after all.' See it here:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H207&t=KJV
Your mention of the temptation (test, trial, proof) in the wilderness prompts me to recommend some reading: Paradise Regain'd, by John Milton. This short epic fleshes out the bare summary narrative in Matthew and Luke. The experience this morning reminded me of some lines "Be frustrate, all ye stratagems of hell,/ And =develish machinations, come to naught." (Book I.178-79) They can't really do anything else, but sometimes you have to get tough with Satan, the Adversary.
The world owes so much to our Master, Christ Jesus for his guidelines on how to become right with God, and to Mary Baker Eddy for her divinely inspired writings, anything we can learn to demonstrate divine Science better is a blessing. And your blog posts are this, in my opinion.
Thanks!
I enjoy reading your blog posts, Christian, and this morning feel inspired to add a comment on your topic. Certainly, "listing only to what needs to be heard" is vital for those of us who are practicing Christian Science and who wish to defend its purity.
Perhaps this true experience and how I've dealt with it through the teachings of the Bible and Christian Science might help someone who checks out your website. We have a neighbor who, bless her heart, loves to talk about disease to an extent that it became a problem for me some months back. It suddenly dawned on me one day that I wouldn't allow someone to come into our house and dump garbage in the living room just because they found it fascinating. Permitting this excessive detail about one medical crisis after another just to be a good neighbor was not wise. Nor was it justified. The first statement that I worked with was something Jesus says in John 8:36: "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." The desire to follow Christ's example was a great strength and gave me a decided sense of freedom from this imposition. Then the clincher was something Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" on page l53: "Neither sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish error in any form, and certainly we should not be error's advocate."
I am more grateful for Christ and Christian Science than words can ever convey.
Oops, a typo in re-typing your title: should be "listening" not "listing." And I live in Farragut, TN (if that matters to anyone.)
I really like your blog, and I enjoyed reading those 2 instances of how CS helped with a problem. Only this morning as I went off to work, began feeling not right, sort of ill. Being a student of Science, I immediately started praying for myself, trying to realize God's allness and the unreality of what the body was trying to make me feel. Several strong truths from Mrs. Eddy's writings came to mind, and this one I think turned the tide. "Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the srength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man." I just looked this up to be sure I quoted it correctly. Anyway, I am fine now! This is from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."
Post a Comment