No_Idolatry(11-20-1) No Idolatry Wednesday, November 20, 201 The Bible Ex. 20:-5 (to :) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 5 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: Deut. 18:9-14 9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10 11 12 1 14 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. Deut. 28:1-5, 14 1 AND it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 4 5 14 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to
serve them. Josh. 24:15 choose 15 choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Matt. 4:2, 24 2 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. Matt. 5:1, 2 1 2 AND seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Matt. 6:24-26, 1-24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25 26 1 2 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. I Cor. 10:14 my 14 my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I Cor. 8:1-8
1 2 4 5 6 7 8 NOW as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse. Ps. 29:2, 11 2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. 11 The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy SH 1:2-26 Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that 24 ever trod the globe. He plunged beneath the material surface of things, and found the spiritual cause. Jesus the Scientist SH 26:16 His mission was to reveal the Science of celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does 18 for man. SH 55:10-14 Divine Science deals its chief blow at the supposed material foundations of life and intelligence. It dooms idolatry. A belief in other gods, other creators, 12 and other creations must go down before Christian Science. Judgment on error
SH 146:5-6 The first idolatry was faith in 6 matter. SH 214:18-19 18 We bow down to matter, and entertain finite thoughts of God like the pagan idolater. SH 4:2 Whatever materializes worship hinders man s spiritual growth and keeps 5:1 him from demonstrating his power over error. SH 140:16 We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worship materially. Spiritual devoutness is the soul of Christianity. Worshipping through the medium of 18 matter is paganism. Judaic and other rituals are but types and shadows of true worship. The true 21 worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. SH 9:17 Dost thou love the Lord thy God with all thy 18 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind? This command includes much, even the surrender of all merely material sensation, affection, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity. 21 It involves the Science of Life, and recognizes only the divine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master, 24 and material sense and human will have no place. SH 114:1 114:1 Usage classes both evil and good together as mind; therefore, to be understood, the author calls sick and sinful humanity mortal mind, meaning by this term the flesh opposed to Spirit, the human mind and evil in contradistinction to the divine Mind, or 6 Truth and good. The spiritually unscientific definition of mind is based on the evidence of the physical senses, which makes minds many and calls mind both human and 9 divine. SH 186:28 187:1 Mortal mind is ignorant of self, or it could never be self-deceived. If mortal mind knew how to be better, it 0 would be better. Since it must believe in some- The true worship Practical religion Definition of mortal mind Ignorant idolatry
thing besides itself, it enthrones matter as deity. The human mind has been an idolater from the beginning, having other gods and believing in more than the one Mind. SH 187:6-10 6 Here you may see how so-called material sense creates its own forms of thought, gives them material names, and then worships and fears them. With pagan blindness, 9 it attributes to some material god or medicine an ability beyond itself. SH 214:19-21 18 Mortals are inclined to fear and to obey what they consider a material 21 body more than they do a spiritual God. Idolatrous illusions SH 17:0-8 0 The idols of civilization are far more fatal to health and longevity than are the idols of barbarism. The idols of civilization call into action less faith than Buddhism 174:1 in a supreme governing intelligence. The Esquimaux restore health by incantations as consciously as do civilized practitioners by their more studied methods. Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry, that man should bow down to a flesh-brush, to flannels, to 6 baths, diet, exercise, and air? Nothing save divine power is capable of doing so much for man as he can do for himself. SH 470:5 The supposed existence of 6 more than one mind was the basic error of idolatry. This error assumed the loss of spiritual power, the loss of the spiritual presence of Life as infinite Truth without an 9 unlikeness, and the loss of Love as ever present and universal. SH 19:29-1 Jesus urged the commandment, Thou shalt have no 0 other gods before me, which may be rendered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life, 20:1 even God, good. Jesus sinless career SH 40:16 15 18 21 24 27 The First Commandment is my favorite text.
It demonstrates Christian Science. It inculcates the triunity of God, Spirit, Mind; it signifies that man shall have no other spirit or mind but God, eternal good, and that all men shall have one Mind. The divine Principle of the First Commandment bases the Science of being, by which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal. One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, Love thy neighbor as thyself; annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed. SH 18:26 Truth casts out all evils and materialistic methods 27 with the actual spiritual law, the law which gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, voice to the dumb, feet to the lame. If Christian 0 Science dishonors human belief, it honors spiritual understanding; and the one Mind only is entitled to honor. Belief and understanding SH 14:8 Our Master gained the solution of being, demonstrating 9 the existence of but one Mind without a second or equal. SH 15:6-7 He knew of but one Mind and laid no claim to any other. SH 467:1 Having no other gods, turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide 15 him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ. Printed from CONCORD: A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE STUDY RESOURCE, published by The Christian Science Board of Directors in Boston, MA, USA. This content may be under copyright and may not be further reproduced or distributed, unless permitted under the Concord User License Agreement.