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Find GEMs to help you stop thinking like a tenant in a tomb!
God Expressed Meekly/Mightily in you sparkle brightly with insights from Cobbey Crisler & others
as inspired by The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Mortals and Immortals”
for Sunday, May 14, 2023
[Due to CedarS extra project management duties, I need to
send this late, but hopefully “It’s better late than never.”]
(Cobbey Crisler’s insights are shared with the blessing of Janet Crisler janetcrisler7@gmail.com)
by Warren Huff, CedarS Executive Director Emeritus, warren@cedarscamps
STOP BEING AT HOME IN THE BODY AS A MERE “TENANT IN A TOMB!”
Be at home in the ‘new man’ to “make all things new!” Cobbey on II Cor. 5:1, 5, 17 (Golden Text)
[Cobbey on II Cor. 5, verse 1:] “Where we are now is a tabernacle, which if “dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens…” (We look out of heavenly consciousness—every window has a heavenly view. We worship where we live — Our bodies are our ultimate idols, if we are living there.
“Verse 4. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened:” Jesus said “take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easy and my burden light” … (Matthew 11:30)
“Verse 6. It’s not what we see but what we know that matters: “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.” THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST RADICAL STATEMENTS IN THE WHOLE BIBLE THAT IS VIRTUALLY SKATED OVER.
“It is foolhardy to adapt ourselves to live in corporeality. You are a tenant in a tomb if at home in the body. Why be so satisfied with data coming to us from the 5 channels of the corporeal senses? Jesus said “Take no thought for your body.”
“Verse 8. “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord.”
“Socrates said “The dead body will not be me. Don’t let him talk about burying Socrates. Say only that you are burying the body.”
“Ishmael (In Moby Dick said “My body is but the lees of my better being.”
“Verse 16. “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh:”
The ultimate objective is to know no man (or woman) after the flesh, according to fleshly information. Our divine nature or anyone’s true, divine nature is not conveyed or confined by anything fleshly from “the old man.” As Jesus beheld, we are to behold the “new man” and in so doing make not just some things but ALL things new. [W: “new man” in SH 300:9]
“As Verse 17 (cit. B16) says, “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (II Cor. 5:17)
Transcribed from marginal notes in Warren’s Bible from a talk by Cobbey Crisler**
MANIFEST DIVINE FREEDOM from the FLESH BY FOCUSING ON WHAT’S GOING ON WITHIN, NOT on the OUTER MAN or WOMAN. Cobbey on Paul’s insights in Rom. 8, Responsive Reading
[Cobbey Crisler on Romans 8:] “In Verse 19 would you agree with Paul that “the earnest expectation of the whole human race is waiting for this manifestation of the sons of God”? That it could be manifested, this sense of glory?
“Verse 21 mentions “the creature itself.” Look what is going to happen to the human body as the result of the evangelization of our mentality. As our mentality becomes more and more like God, the human body, “the creature itself, also shall be delivered.” There’s freedom, freedom from “every ill that flesh is heir to,” as Shakespeare says. “Delivered from the slavery,” literally in Greek, “the bondage of corruption,” “the slavery of decay into,” literally, “the freedom of the children of God.” The divine mode of being, as one dictionary says glory is, “into the freedom of the glory of the divine mode of being, of the divine nature, of the radiant thought of the children of God.”
If (only) all our thoughts could be at the level of such radiance. We’ve seen light come out from a human expression. We’ve met people who radiate a sense of insight. That’s just simply “the ministration of death,” as Paul says [in 2 Corinthians 3.7]. That’s in the fleshly. That’s simply an outward manifestation of what’s going on within. More should be going on within. And we’re spending most of our time trying to dress the without.”
“Glory: Divine Nature in The Bible,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
Romans 8:19, 21 the For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God… the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God
EXPECT to demonstrate that “ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD”: Prove for yourself what Mary Baker Eddy calls “the dictum of Scripture… (that) “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Science & Health 444:4/cit. S24). Here she’s quoting Paul in Romans 8:28. He gives us a model for the true “prayer… fervently offered (that) includes no opposing element” (Miscellany 293:21). The news is full of arguments for the existence of all kinds of evil and opposing elements these days. Most of them are based on the VIRUS of unwise atheism and its family members (according to Wikipedia) of “the supremacy of human reason… secular humanism… religious criticism…free-thought skepticism…” They all doubt Paul’s assertion that that “God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. They are the ones God has chosen for his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, CEB) It’s been said, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” or in Intensive Care or on Ventilators…]
Leading up to a Cobbey Crisler comment on Romans 8:28 below are helpful Bible insights on VIRUSES from Psalm 14:1-3, Mark 7:20 & II Corinthians 10:5:
“In Psalm 14, Verse 1, “The fool”— that’s the kind of point of view it is, completely unwise—“The fool that said in his heart, [There is] no God,” has a foolish point of view that exposes you to the infection of that idea. It communicates a contaminating influence if it cuts one off from the very source of life and health. Because treatment is available.
“In Verse 2 “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, [and] seek God.” Notice what arena we’re dealing with here. God was not checking our pulses [or our temperatures], but our thoughts. How do we know what effect thoughts actually have ultimately on the pulse, for example? “To see if there were any that could understand and [seek] God” because that’s the bottom line.
“Instead, in Verse 3 “They are all gone aside, and become filthy.” Something that is unsanitary doesn’t belong; it’s not part of the health code of the Bible any more than it’s in the health code of material medica. Because what is unsanitary [W: is part of the unreality family and] is liable to cause or promote a disease.
“It’s also interesting to note that the word “virus” which is being used so generally today as the cause of much of man’s physical complaints and effects [W:—as well as the cause of issues from implanted computer viruses or hacks].
“The virus, according to Webster, is able to break down the defensive mechanism of the host. And, by the way, it comes from a Latin word that means poison or slimy liquid, virus. The word “filthy,” in part of its Hebrew meaning, is morally corrupt. So, we know we’re dealing really at both levels here, moral and physical. If out of that filthy condition, that polluted state of human consciousness, we’re coming to the conclusion “[there is] none that doeth good, no, not one,” has the defensive mechanism broken down? Have we become the host of ideas that are contaminating to our pure relationship to God? Or, are we ingesting only those pure Words? It’s a question of thought. It’s the faculty of knowing that which God is addressing here.
“Consider what Jesus lists in Mark 7, Verse 20, where he lists the toxic causes of man’s problems. He says, “That which comes out of the man, that defies the man.” Now we’re going the opposite route from those pure Words from God.
[Mark 7, Verse 21] “From within,” and, by the way, that is almost the literal translation of the Latin word intestin from which our word “intestine” comes. “Out of the heart of men, proceed,” and look at the list; it’s certainly not intestinal fortitude, “evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, porneia, root of our word pornography, murders.” [Verse 22]. “Thefts,” do we need to go into the headlines as current as this morning? “covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.” [W: fool, as in Psalm 14.1] And Jesus says in Mark 7, Verse 23, “All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” That’s where disease is also felt; the “within.”
[W: Instead of affirming that in God (and in reality) we have everything that we need,] We [often tend to] yearn for so much within, don’t we? How imperfectly that’s often expressed. Our longing often, perhaps most of the time, is expressed in terms that we would conquer the world outwardly in some way. Be appreciated. Be applauded. Be loved. [W: Have lots of social media “likes” or followers…] Be served. Be patted on the head. Be comforted. Have obeisance shown to us. That we have the homage of the world outwardly. We want to conquer the world in some way. That’s trying to impose domination. That kind of longing is imperfectly expressed.
“A more perfect sense of longing, the desire that Jesus calls prayer, would be to conquer all the influences of that same world inwardly. [W: “to bring EVERY thought”—NOT EVERY OTHER THOUGHT— “to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)] Then, you’re a king. In that sense Jesus was always a king. There’s nothing wrong with that messianic attribution to him of “king.” He ruled and nothing overruled him. But, look at all these things that [would attempt to] take over our “within” where the kingdom of God is supposed to be. And instead, we find anarchy most of the time.
“What is disease? If the kingdom-of-God-within (Luke 17:21, cit. B11 and cit. S8, 476:28) is the healed, whole state, then anarchy-within must also tell us what disease is. It’s an outright rebellion. It’s a “Declaration of Independence” by one organ over the rest of the bodily systems. The Bible endorses only one system [Romans 8.28] “All things work together for good to them that love God.” There is the prerequisite. We always have to have this prescription filled. We’ve got to love God. Then, “all things work together for good.” That’s the ideal situation for any system, bodily or solar, all things working together for good. That’s the definition of perfect health as well.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
FIND SATISFACTION AND HEALTH ONLY IN THE ORIGINAL!
Cobbey Crisler on Psalm 17:15, citation B1
“Verse 15 of Psalms 17 [tells us] that God’s prescriptions, precisely filled, bring satisfaction. Satisfaction because “we awake in God’s likeness.” But that results first from the prerequisite of “beholding God’s face in righteousness.” That requires us to go back to the theology of Genesis 1 to comprehend what that means. If we indeed are image, or likeness, and God is the original, the only way we can find out about our nature is to spend our time studying the original. Then we know the image. We also know what’s not the image by studying the original.
Just as Treasury Department experts know counterfeit bills, not because they have studied all the many thousands of counterfeit attempts, from poor work to expert work, but rather, simply study the original and you will know the counterfeit immediately. That’s in a sense akin to surgically removing in a mental way, or taking the purgative cathartic Word of God to remove what does not belong to our nature. Imagine the joy of letting go what has burdened us for so long. It’s part of that darkness that is ignorance, that the light, the laser beam of revealed truth, simply removes, and not painfully at all. It just does what light is supposed to do. It removes any rationale for the existence of darkness.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
PARTAKE OF GOD’S NATURE TO TRULY “WORSHIP THE FATHER IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH” Cobbey Crisler on John 4:23 (citation B5)
John 4:23, ”The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” Look at the definition of worship. “True worship is spiritual, “not structural, not geographical, not ritualistic. Why? Because worship of God can only properly be done by partaking of God’s own nature.”
“John, the Beloved Disciple,” B. Cobbey Crisler**
GAIN A CLEARER SENSE OF THE CORRELATIVE RELATIONSHIP OF 1ST JOHN 3:2, 3/cit. B6) with the “Scientific Statement of Being” (SH 468)
Kathy Fitzer Met on Matter for March 21, 2021: “I found a couple of articles that were helpful to me in gaining a clearer sense of the correlative relationship of 1st John with the Scientific Statement of Being. One was an article written by a student of Mary Baker Eddy’s, Hermann S. Hering. He asked her for approval before it was published, which, of course, was granted. https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/mk544razg2?s=copylink
A more recent article, https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/2pl5sjxfsyk?s=copylink , included this statement: “By indicating the correlative nature of the I John verses in respect to “the scientific statement of being,” Mrs. Eddy shows us that the Bible verses themselves indicate both the unreality of matter and the present spiritual sonship of all, however much the deceptive corporeal senses would try to obscure this sonship. It is instructive to read the whole of I John with these points in thought.”
There is also a helpful Sentinel Watch podcast that addresses the question, How Can I Better Understand the Scientific Statement of Being? with Janet Clements. Here’s a link: https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/wccxxsky6?s=copylink . From it an audio version is available from a headphone icon on the top menu.
In following his own advice to “first bind the strong man (“Mortal mind” cit. S19/399:29-6) and then … spoil his house” (cit. B3/Mark 3:27) it came to me that since “Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe” (cit. S9/313:23), he would likely be thinking in terms of the “Scientific statement of being” (SH 468:8-15) . WE TOO CAN PRAY WITH THE AFFIRM-AND-DENY PATTERN OF “THE SCIENTIFIC STATEMENT OF BEING” TO ACHIEVE OUR GOALS TODAY! —Perceive & PROVE these scientific facts!
Affirm your God-like nature; Deny the claims of life & intelligence in matter!
** MARY BAKER EDDY chose to CLOSE EVERY SUNDAY SERVICE with what Einstein called “THE MOST PROFOUND STATEMENT EVER UTTERED BY MANKIND”
Dr. Albert Einstein, when he was a professor at Princeton University, is said to have said privately of Mary Baker Eddy’s “Scientific Statement of Being” (SH 468:8-15, citation S1): “That is the most profound statement ever uttered by mankind.” He is also said to have quipped to a research colleague, Christian Scientist, Dr. Underwood, “Had I known of the “Scientific Statement of Being” sooner, I could have developed my Theory of Relativity ten years sooner.”
Mary Baker Eddy said of her “Scientific Statement of Being”:
*“St. Paul said to the Athenians, ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ This statement is in substance identical with my own: ‘There is no life, truth, substance, nor intelligence in matter.’ It is quite clear that this great verity has not yet been fully demonstrated, but it is nevertheless true. If Christian Science reiterates Paul’s teaching, we, as Christian Scientists, should give to the world convincing proof of the validity of this scientific statement of being. Having perceived, in advance of others, this scientific fact, we owe to ourselves and to the world a struggle for its demonstration.”
Retrospection & Introspection, p. 93: 17, Mary Baker Eddy’s quote & comment on Acts 17:28.
The cadence of this whole, 60-word statement alternates between
(Affirmation) “Spirit is the real and eternal;
(and Denial) “matter is the unreal and temporal.” and its conclusion as follows
(Affirmation) “Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness.
(and Denial) “Therefore, man is not material;
(& affirmation) he is spiritual.”
This affirmation/denial pattern follows the method used by rowers in a row boat who reach their desired destination only by pulling equally on both oars. (When they pull only on one oar instead of on both, they go in circles!)
Let’s be alert to follow her system of both affirming the facts and denying the fables. Such balanced prayer will enable us to “first bind the strong man” (cit. B3/Mark 3:27) and so reach the desired goal of demonstrating “a higher and more permanent peace”—in ALL conditions.
THINK AGAIN TO PROVE THAT IT’S NOT PROBLEMS, BUT HEAVEN, THAT IS AT HAND!
Cobbey on Matt. 4:17/cit. B9, a prelude to: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
[Cobbey Crisler:] “Verse 17. … Jesus’ opening word, according to Matthew’s gospel is “Repent.” Change your concept. Again, just as John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:2, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” Jesus said in Mark 1:14, 15) That is radical good news for mankind.
“It’s not a far-off event. Many denominations have left the impression that heaven is something attainable in the far-off future. But, the opening words of John the Baptist, as well as of Jesus, are “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” right here. That means that we must be able to do something with it and about it. And, apparently that had something to do with the changing of our concept, even theologically, that heaven can do something about the problems that that seem to be at hand.
“… Are the problems at hand, or is heaven at hand? That’s the test question that Jesus met in the preceding verses so beautifully as a sovereign over it in the wilderness. He proved that heaven was at hand.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[W.] We follow our Master Jesus, as we dismiss dualism like he did to feel a heavenly harmony that heals EVERY PERSON & EVERY ISSUE! (Matt. 14:23) As a prelude to these verses from this week’s lesson, you’ll enjoy Cobbey’s insights on Jesus’ wilderness testing experience where he overcame feeling isolated and alone, by feeling ALL One with his Abba “Daddy”! You’ll enjoy this even more if you’re feeling vulnerable to attacks from a devilish, divisive virus! (Devil or diabolos means to try to throw in 2 opposite directions at the same time.)
Cobbey Crisler on Jesus “acing” his long isolation tests & healing all, Matt. 4:1-11 before verses 17, 23 (in citation B3):
[W. Before the Matthew 4:17 and 23 verses in this week’s lesson is what enabled Jesus to heal everyone.]
[Cobbey:] “There is what we might call an identity-crisis test in Chapter 4 (of Matthew). The Anglo-Saxon word “tempt” has almost picked up a theological meaning. It really means “test.” That’s what the word means. It’s a test. (Verse 1) So, “Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness” to be tested on the fact that had recently been revealed (directly from God in Matthew 3:17 (and Mark 1:11) that Jesus was God’s “Beloved Son”).
Verse 23, 24. And “healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” Here are human problems that had defied solution, and Jesus solved them all based on his concept of theology, namely the kingdom. Remember a kingdom is not chaos. It’s an ordered government of heaven and harmony at hand.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master, A Tax Collector’s Report,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
SPIRITUALLY SEE around YOU DETAILS of JESUS’ “kingdom of God” PARABLE to let WHEAT & tares grow till tares can be detected & removed.” Cobbey on this PARABLE (cits. B12/Matt. 13:2; S15/300)
[Cobbey Crisler said:] “What a classroom [… an audio-video environment] it must have been, for a Master to teach his prime students in, and those who would listen! They could look around to see the lessons. […like at CedarS Bible Lands Park] They could hear every word he said. But then he tried to uplift that vision up and uplift that sense of listening to a higher spiritual category.
Parable number two is the tares and the wheat beginning in Verse 24. When I had our high school students over there, we actually experimented with details of the parable where the tares are very difficult to pull up. They bring the wheat right up with them because the wheat has a softer root, and this fits in exactly with the details of the parable as Jesus gave it.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax Collector’s Report,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
DROP CONFORMITY! BE TOTALLY CHANGED FOR THE BETTER BY THE MIND OF CHRIST! –
BE THE BEST VERSION OF YOU THAT GOD MADE!
from Paul’s tips “. . . be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2, cit. B15)
JB Phillips’ translation – “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold.”
James Moffatt’s translation – “Instead of being molded to this world, have your mind renewed, and so be transformed in nature, able to make out what the will of God is, namely what is good and acceptable to Him and perfect.”
“The direction is to, ‘put on another form, change the form of the world for that of Christianity.’ This word would properly refer to the external appearance, but the expression which the apostle immediately uses, “renewing of the mind,” shows that he did not intend to use it with reference to that only, but to the charge of the whole man. The meaning is, do not cherish a spirit, devoted to the world, following its vain fashions and pleasures, but cultivate a spirit attached to God, and his kingdom and cause” (Barnes Commentary from www.biblehub.com).
Renewing is anakainosis which means “a renewal, renovation, complete change for the better” (www.blueletterbible.org, Strong’s Lexicon 342).
“Perfect is free from effect, stain, or injury. That which has all its parts complete, or which is not disproportionate” (Barnes Commentary from www.biblehub.com).
“Acceptable – That which will be pleasing to God. or which he will approve. There is scarcely a more difficult text in the Bible than this, or one that is more full of meaning. It involves the main duty of religion to be separated from the world; and expresses the way in which that duty may be performed, and in which we may live so as to ascertain and do the will of God” (Barnes Commentary from www.biblehub.com).
In one of her Bibles, Mary Baker Eddy wrote beside Romans 12:
“Romans 12 is Christian Science.” (MBE Accession #B00017.C)
BE RECEPTIVE TO GOD’S UNFORGETTABLE, LIFE-SAVING POWER! ACCEPT THAT “IN CHRIST SHALL ALL BE MADE ALIVE!” (I Cor. 15:22) Cobbey on Luke 7:11-16/cit. B18
[Cobbey Crisler on dead son of Nain widow raised!] “Were it not for Luke, we would not have had preserved for us one of three recorded times that Jesus raised someone from the dead (Luke 7:11-17). There is a significant fact about the accounts of raising the dead in the Bible. They are not all in the New Testament. The significance is that not all healings made a sufficient impact at the time to have impressed upon human memory the location where it occurred. This is why you will find statements mentioning when Jesus went to a particular village.
However, in every case of raising the dead, from the Old Testament all the way through the New Testament, the human mind was startled by seeing what it accepted as the impossible, occur. This is what is in common about Zarephath. Shunem, Nain, Capernaum. Bethany, Jerusalem, Joppa, and Troas. They didn’t forget where it happened. The details of the healing are particularly sharp.
In this case we have a city called Nain, probably a village as it is today. There is still an ancient cemetery outside the gate. There was a lonely widow at the head of this procession. Jesus, detecting thought again, saw her entire situation at one glance. He came to her and said, “Weep not” (Verse 13). He dealt with the heavy weight of grief on thought, touched the coffin (Verse 14), strictly forbidden under Jewish law, and then said, “Young man.”
Notice the radical nature of what Jesus said. The only one supposedly there who could not hear was the one Jesus addressed. He must have expected that man’s faculty of hearing to be normal. “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.” He doesn’t help him either.
Dominion over death is part of that unqualified dominion God gave to man. As a matter of fact, dominion, as a word, as a concept, simply can’t be qualified. If it is, you no longer have dominion. (Verse 15,) “He that was dead sat up, and began to speak. He delivered him to his mother. “
Also, it might be interesting for you to recall that of the three times Jesus raised the dead, womanhood played a prominent role every time. It was Jesus’ compassion and awareness of the thought of this woman that lead him to raise her son. In the case of Lazarus (John 11:1-46), Mary and Martha urgently had requested Jesus to come. In the case of Jairus it was his twelve-year-old daughter (Luke 8:41, 42, 49-56).
These things don’t just happen. If Jesus is dealing with mentality, if he is requiring much out of the patient’s thought, then there must be a receptivity in order to get a result.
I think that we can derive a certain conclusion about the receptivity of womanhood, especially on the subject of resurrection. For if you move ahead a few chapters in your thought right now, you will recall there was no man anywhere near the tomb, including those who are reputed to have been Jesus’ closest disciples. But the women were there and receptive to resurrection.”
“Luke, the Researcher,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
THIS “LET-US DIET” IS PERFECT TO CHEW ON FOR EACH OF US
AND FOR THE WHOLE WORLD!
[Warren Huff:] Let us give thought & action to the following divine directives to memorize from citation S32. [As a memory aid, I think of this call to healthy action as our “Model Lettuce diet” or our “Excellent Let-us plan”]:
“Let-us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy. Let-us rejoice that we are subject to the divine “powers that be.” (citation S32, 249:6–9) (Bold italics added for Let us)
Mary Baker Eddy uses the words “Let us” 28 times in Science and Health, and 67 times in her other writings—plus there are 40 more “Let us” combos in the Hymnal! So, you could chew on different blends of “let us” every day as it’s in season for you, and apply or dress them to best suit your taste and meet the needs of the day.
For example, another favorite, “mixed-green” combo of mine is at the top of that same page 249 of Science and Health: “Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence.” (SH 249:1)
