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Chapter 3 - The Christ and Christian Science.
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The statement appears in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures as a single paragraph. From a scientific standpoint, however, each sentence covers a whole world of its own. For this reason, the statement is presented here broken down into its individual components. The following, is the statement presented with its sentences numerically identified.
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.1. There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter.
.2. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all.
.3. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error.
.4. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal.
.5. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness.
.6. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.
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If one considers the statement so presented, something else comes to light. A perfect symmetry becomes apparent in the arrangement of the sentences, in which the first and last sentence coincide (and the second and fifth, etc.) so that each component of the pair strengthens the other's presentation of fact. As an exercise, please put together sentence 1+6, 2+5, 3+4, and note the results.
It needs to be noted that this unique interrelationship was evidently built into structure of the statement with clear intentions. The unique manner in which the structure is presented here invites a deeper pondering. It reveals in a small way the nature in which the much larger structure for the Key of David has been designed. The larger structure, of course, has many more aspects and dimensions, and contains not just six, but a hundred and forty-four elements, all of which have been specifically designed to strengthen each other's scientific signification, and to invite an immensely more deep pondering and investigation.
This characteristic will be taken up again in some later chapters when we begin to look at the structure for the Key of David in greater detail. Before this exploration can be taken up, however, a few more fundamental aspects of Christian Science need to be considered.
One of these important aspects is related to the very concept of a God, itself.
What is God?
The reason that God seems dead to modern humanity, is rather quite simple, from a scientific standpoint. The kind of God that mankind has worshiped to a large extend, has never existed. If God appears dead, one should celebrate one's sense of honesty, for the God that is likely perceived, never was. Those who have made successful careers in spiritual healing, like Christ Jesus, or Mary Baker Eddy, have consistently declared that God is incorporeal infinite Spirit, universal divine Principle, divine Love. This is far from what is generally perceived as God. Christ Jesus said: "God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."*(John 4:24) Mary Baker Eddy defined God as follows: "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love."*(Science and Health 465:9)
But, really, what does humanity expect their God to be? With few exceptions, humanity sees its deity as some form of corporeal entity, ghost-like perhaps, a type of mythical dictator. Perhaps the ancient view of a mighty potentate who dictates his will on a helpless humanity, whose favor must be sought, is fading from general perception. This concept of God has been found to be so illogical and unsupported by evidence that the whole idea of a God went out of the window altogether. By the same token any concept of God is doomed to oblivion by the lack of supporting evidence, including the scientific sense of deity. Christ Jesus had some harsh words to say about that: "An evil and adulterous generations seeketh after a sign," he said, "and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas."*(Matt. 12:39) The only acceptable, rational sense of God is one that comes to light through tangible evidence in daily experiences.
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