God the Only Cause and Creator

Transcription

1 Golden Text Jeremiah 33:11 Praise (to ;)... Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; Responsive Reading Psalms 104:24, 30 (to :); 65:1 (to :), 4, 5 7 O God, 9 11 (to ;); 66:5 (to :) 24 O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. 30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: 1 Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: 4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea: 6 Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power: 7 Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people. 9 Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. 10 Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof. 11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; 5 Come and see the works of God: 1 Genesis 1:1, 26 (to :), 31 (to 1 st.) Section 1 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. 2 Psalms 107:1 (to :), 8 1 O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: 8 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 3 Isaiah 61:10, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. This copy of a Weekly Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly is licensed for your own personal use and may not be distributed electronically or in print, except as described in the Copyright Terms and Conditions at. Christian Science Quarterly is a trademark owned by The Christian Science Publishing Society. Study references are from the Bible (King James Version) and the Christian Science textbook, with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.

2 4 Ephesians 5:9 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 5 Exodus 33:1, 2 (to ;), 3 (to 1 st :), 14, 19 I will (to ;) 1 And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: 2 And I will send an angel before thee; 3 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: 14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 19 I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; 6 Deuteronomy 32:3 ascribe, 4 (to 1 st :) 3 ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: 1 583:20 22 (to 2 nd ;) Section 1 Creator. Spirit; Mind; intelligence; the animating 21 divine Principle of all that is real and good; self-existent Life, Truth, and Love; that which is perfect and eternal; 2 470: God is the creator of man, and, the divine Principle of man remaining perfect, the divine idea or reflection, man, remains perfect. Man is the expression 24 of God s being. Indestructible relationship 3 275:14 All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, im- 15 mortality, cause, and effect belong to God. These are His attributes, the eternal manifestations of the infinite divine Principle, Love. No wisdom is wise but His 18 wisdom; no truth is true, no love is lovely, no life is Life but the divine; no good is, but the good God bestows :24 26 All 24 All reality is in God and His creation, harmonious and eternal. That which He creates is good, and He makes all that is made :28 When we learn the way in Christian Science and recognize man s spiritual being, we shall behold and under- 30 stand God s creation, all the glories of earth and heaven and man. Section 2 7 Psalms 107:15 15 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 2017 The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 2

3 8 Psalms 34:1, 4, 8, 14 1 I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. 8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. 14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. 9 Psalms 80:7, 17 7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. 17 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. 10 II Chronicles 14:1 6 Abijah 1 Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years. 2 And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God: 3 For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: 4 And commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. 5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him. 6 And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the Lord had given him rest. 11 Ezekiel 34:11, 14 (to :), 22 (to ;), 25 (to :), For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: 22 Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; 25 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: 28 And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. 12 Isaiah 11:6, 9 (to :) 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: 13 II Corinthians 13:11 be of 11 be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. 6 96:12 15 Section 2 12 This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be 15 Science and peace. Arena of contest 2017 The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 3

4 7 516:4 13 The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation; 6 and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere. 9 God fashions all things, after His own likeness. Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and 12 permanence. Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light. 8 96:4 5 Love imparts beauty Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spiritualization will follow, for Love is Spirit :20 25 Let us learn 21 of the real and eternal, and prepare for the reign of Spirit, the kingdom of heaven, the reign and rule of universal harmony, which cannot be lost nor remain 24 forever unseen. Mind, not matter, is causation :8 9 God, Spirit, alone created all, and called it 9 good :20 (only), 24 Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being. Spiritual proofs of existence 24 Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace 27 which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love. 14 Psalms 107:21 Section 3 21 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 15 Psalms 67:1 3, 7 (to ;) 1 God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; 2 That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. 3 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. 7 God shall bless us; 16 Matthew 14:14 14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 4

5 17 Luke 8: And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 44 Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. 45 And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 46 And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace. Section :25 27 The Christian Science God is universal, eternal, divine Love, which changeth not and caus- 27 eth no evil, disease, nor death :1 1 It is objected to Christian Science that it claims God as the only absolute Life and Soul, and man to be His 3 idea, that is, His image. It should be added that this is claimed to represent the Strong position normal, healthful, and sinless condition of man in divine 6 Science, and that this claim is made because the Scriptures say that God has created man in His own image and after His likeness. Is it sacrilegious to assume that 9 God s likeness is not found in matter, sin, sickness, and death? :11 It would be contrary to our highest ideas of God to 12 suppose Him capable of first arranging law and causation so as to bring about certain evil results, and God never then punishing the helpless victims of His voinconsistent 15 lition for doing what they could not avoid doing. Good is not, cannot be, the author of experimental sins. God, good, can no more produce sickness than goodness can 18 cause evil and health occasion disease :23 If God causes man to be sick, sickness must be good, 24 and its opposite, health, must be evil, for all that He makes is good and will stand forever. If the Sickness from transgression of God s law produces sickness, it mortal mind 27 is right to be sick; and we cannot if we would, and should not if we could, annul the decrees of wisdom. It is the transgression of a belief of mortal mind, not of a law of 30 matter nor of divine Mind, which causes the belief of sickness. The remedy is Truth, not matter, the truth that disease is unreal The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 5

6 16 494:11 It is not well to imagine that Jesus demon- 12 strated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good :12, Physical causation was put aside from first to last by this original man, Jesus. He knew that the divine Principle, Love, creates and governs all that 15 is real. Sin, sickness, and death are comprised in human material belief, and belong not to the divine Mind. They 1 are without a real origin or existence :12 12 Rise in the strength 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 15 man. 18 Psalms 106:1 Section 4 1 Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. 19 Lamentations 3:22, 26, It is of the Lord s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. 58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. 20 Acts 9: Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did. 37 And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber. 38 And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. 39 Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them. 40 But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. 41 And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive. 42 And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 6

7 21 Ephesians 2:8 by, 10 8 by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them :3 5, 12 Section 4 3 If we wish to follow Christ, Truth, it must be in the way of God s appointing. Jesus said, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also. 12 We must forsake the foundation of material systems, however time-honored, if we would gain the Christ as our only Saviour. Not partially, but fully, the great 15 healer of mortal mind is the healer of the body :1 8 1 Man, being immortal, has a perfect indestructible life. It is the mortal belief which makes 3 the body discordant and diseased in proportion as ignorance, fear, or human will governs mortals. Mind, supreme over all its formations and governing 6 them all, is the central sun of its own systems of ideas, the life and light of all its own vast creation; and man is tributary to divine Mind. Allness of Truth :26 Instead of God sending 27 sickness and death, He destroys them, and brings to light immortality. Omnipotent and infinite Mind made all and includes all. This Mind does not make mistakes 30 and subsequently correct them. God does not cause man to sin, to be sick, or to die :20 27 There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can 21 be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from One primal cause this great and only cause. Sin, sickness, dis- 24 ease, and death belong not to the Science of being. They are the errors, which presuppose the absence of Truth, Life, or Love. 27 The spiritual reality is the scientific fact in all things. 22 Psalms 107:31 Section 5 31 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 2017 The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 7

8 23 Psalms 33:4 6, 8 2 nd let, 9 4 For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth. 5 He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 8 let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. 24 Psalms 66:1, 2, 5 (to :) 1 Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: 2 Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. 5 Come and see the works of God: :7 The conceptions of mortal, erring thought must give way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal. Through 9 many generations human beliefs will be attaining diviner conceptions, and the immortal and Spiritual discovery perfect model of God s creation will finally be seen as 12 the only true conception of being :14 Each suc- 15 cessive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love :15 17 Section 5 15 God pronounced good all that He created, and the Scriptures declare that He created all : In the vast forever, in the Science and truth of being, the only facts are Spirit and its innumerable creations The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 8