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See 4 NEW APPLICATION GEMS (at the end) to PROVE SPIRIT’S DOMINION OVER MATTER!
Let God Expressed Meekly/Mightily in you sparkle brightly with new insights from Cobbey Crisler & others as inspired by The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“MATTER”
for September 18, 2022
(Cobbey’s insights are shared with the blessing of Janet Crisler janetcrisler7@gmail.com)
by Warren Huff, CedarS Executive Director Emeritus, warren@cedarscamps.org
LIKE PAUL SHARE THE TRUTH ABOUT NOT IDOLIZING MATTER with HEALING RESULTS! – And KEEP CALM WHEN RESISTED. Cobbey with a PRELUDE & POSTLUDE to the ACTS 19 PORTION of the RESPONSIVE READING THIS WEEK.
[Cobbey Crisler said of Acts, Chapter 19:]
Verse 1. Apollos is at Corinth, and Paul come to Ephesus again.
Verse 7. And runs into twelve men.
Verse 2. They also seem to be very close to the message of Christianity. Paul says, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost?” And there’s an interesting reply, “We haven’t so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.”
Verse 3. Paul introduces them to Christianity. But what had they known up to that point? John.
So, we have Apollos at Ephesus with John the Baptist having reached that widely around the world.
Verse 8. “For three months he’s talking at Ephesus.”
Verse 10. “It’s extended to two years.”
Verse 11. What does Paul do in the community of Ephesus? With all this time in the community, he can concentrate on healing. “Much healing occurs.”
Verse 20 show the results, “Mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.”
Verse 21. When he sees this kind of success in the third largest city in the Roman empire, which I believe Ephesus was. The last five words of this verse show where Paul wants to head very shortly, “I must also see Rome.”
Before he gets out of there one of the great “cause celebre” [W: French for “legal case famous”] occurs.
Verse 24/Responsive Reading: Demetrius has had his business affected. With so many people turning to the one God that this great one of the seven wonders of the world, this temple of Diana of Ephesus, of which he made small miniature replicas in silver. Nobody’s ordering those any more, or not as many.
Verse 25-27/Responsive Reading: So, “He gets the union together and describes what’s happening.”
The uproar, the mob scene, eventually ends up at the vast theater in Ephesus, which is still in existence, which seats, I think, around twenty thousand, which was virtually filled.
Verse 29/Responsive Reading: “The whole city was also filled with confusion” and it wasn’t a very intelligent uprising, like every mob scene.
[Verse 34.] When the mob learned that the wise town clerk was a Jew, “all they could think to say for two hours or so was ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians.’” It’s almost as if they weren’t convinced themselves because it took them that long to get the idea across.
[Verse 30.] “Paul wanted to go in but they wouldn’t let him in.
Verse 35. Here we have a wise town clerk, like the poor wise man who saved the city is the Old Testament [Ecclesiastes 9:15] This wise town clerk stood up and said, “Hey, wait a minute. These people haven’t really destroyed what we believe in.”
[Verse 39] “Even if they were threatening it, we have law courts.”
[Verse 40.] “Unless you want to have an answer to Roman authorities for this mob scene. I suggest that everybody quietly leave by the exits.
[Verse 41] “And we’ll forget it all happened.” That coolness introduced into the heat of the potential rebellion answered the question. They all leave.”
“After the Master, What? The Book of Acts”, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
LIKE JESUS, VIEW MATTER IN A RADICAL DIFFERENT WAY
AND SEVER ALL FLESHLY-ORIGIN CONNECTIONS.
Cobbey Crisler on John 6: 62 – 7:6 (verses on both sides of John 6:63/citation B1)
[Cobbey:] John 6:62, “What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before?” Nativity in the Spirit. There can’t be the magnetic pull back to earth if that connection has been severed or proved never to have been a real connection.
“In John 6:63 (citation B1) Jesus impinges upon what has been considered laws of physics because he views matter in a radical way. He makes the statement, “It is the spirit that quickeneth.” That is where you find life. So, if you want to talk about nativity anywhere, you better deal with origin and Spirit. “The flesh profiteth nothing.”
“You see how close one needs to be to Jesus in thought to understand what has been referred to as the Communion Supper. If he is accurate in saying, “the flesh profiteth nothing, “neither would symbolically eating it profit anything. So, it must not be the flesh he is talking about, but that great transformation that he is proving in his life to be possible to the Son of Man. John 1:14 refers to it as “the Word that was made flesh.” The Word connects us to Spirit, not flesh. Here is part of that Word underscoring the message that, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.”
“What happened in John 6:66? “Many walked right out,” as soon as he had this radical statement to say about matter.
John 6:67. Jesus had to turn to the twelve, and said, “Will you go away?”
“John 6:68. Peter had one of those classic remarks that he makes. It’s really a lovely one. He looks around to the alternatives and says, “Lord, where will we go? You have the words of eternal life.” [W. “the pearl of great price”] He got the message. The words of eternal life, not the flesh of eternal life. “You have the words of eternal life. ”
“Jesus’ brethren in John 7:3 try to persuade him to come out into the open, and hire a public relations firm. If you are what you think you are, then back it up in the world’s way.
John 7:5,“Neither did his brethren believe in him.”
John 7:6. He announces, “My time is not yet come.” There’s an indication in Jesus own thought that he knew there would be a prophetic hour which must be fulfilled. The ingredients were not there yet. So, he indicates, “My prophetic hour is not yet come. Your time is always ready. “They did not have a solid understanding of prophecy.”
“Book of John, A Walk with the Beloved Disciple,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
REFUSE TO ACCEPT THE FLESH AS THE CONTAINER OF YOUR INDIVIDUALITY!
Freedom from the flesh according to Paul from Romans 8:5, 6, 8, 9/cit. B2 (+v. 19-21):
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” (plus, verse 6 bonus— “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (cit. B2/Romans 6:6, KJV)
[Warren] The Contemporary English Version (CEV) translates this citation as “People who are ruled by their desires think only of themselves. Everyone who is ruled by the Holy Spirit thinks about spiritual things. If our minds are ruled by our desires, we will die. But if our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have life and peace.”
[Warren] The Living Bible (TLB) renders these verses: “Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower natures live only to please themselves, but those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God. 6 Following after the Holy Spirit leads to life and peace, but following after the old nature leads to death.”
Cobbey Crisler writes about how Paul continues to develop this theme in Romans 8:9/cit. B2.
[Cobbey:] on Romans 8:9 “How many auditoriums would empty in ridicule if Paul stood before them today and announced, “You are not in the flesh”? That’s an invitation to laughter, isn’t it? “You are not in the flesh,” Paul said. Flesh is not the container, then, of our individuality. We [are encouraged to think that] we are [our bodies]. We’re proud of that “fact”. We have turned the glory into shame by thinking out from the basis of flesh. We suffer from the incurred problems of an evolution that traces itself back through dust-like levels, so that heredity becomes a problem in health. We take pride in those “designer-genes” that form our genetic code.
In the Bible it’s a case of choosing between Genesis or genetics. Genesis (1:1, 25) has us in the beginning created by God with dominion and in God’s image. So, flesh cannot be part of that image. Where are we seeing ourselves? “Adam, where art thou?” (Genesis 3:9)
Where are we instead of in the flesh according to Romans 8, Verse 9? We’re “in the spirit” That’s home, then. Do we really feel at home in the Spirit? To be inspired is to have Spirit within, literally, in Latin. Do we enjoy living in an inspired state? Everything moves aside. Everything is subordinated to that inspiration. “we’re in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in us.” …
(bonus verses from 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 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**
APPLY the “FIRST LESSONS” of “the TRUTH-CURE, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE…” for FAST, HEALING RESULTS!
Warren’s sharing of his first childlike healing by applying citation S6, 237:15 & 514:6:
Recently, my dear sister, Ann, reminded me of the following healing of my “first lessons” of applying “the Truth-cure, Christian Science…” (SH 237:15 is “the rest of the story” after cit. S6, 237:1) I also recently shared this example in an inspirational conversation with John Mitchell in Arden Woods’ informative May 1, 2022 Annual Meeting (in 2nd half)
(YouTube link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGhJvMlCWj8
In Omaha, Nebraska when I was about seven years old (BC, Before CedarS), I unsuccessfully tried to run and jump over an open section of the sidewalk that had been removed to fix a broken waterline under it. After I landed on one foot on the edge of the concrete, I had to crawl about a block home because I couldn’t put any weight on my ankle. My mom and I quickly called Mrs. Lois Anderson, her Christian Science teacher. She simply asked me if I could think about God and a hurt ankle at the same time. I said NO! She asked, “Then what are you going to think about?” I said “God!!”
She then read the passage in the lesson that week “Mind (God), joyous in strength, dwells in the realm of Mind. Mind’s infinite ideas run and disport themselves.” She reminded me that running and disporting myself was all that I had been doing and that as Mind’s infinite idea I could do that with strength and joyous dominion and without injury or fear.
Hearing this I felt great and had no fear or thoughts of pain. I put my shoe back on and happily ran down the same sidewalk to a friend’s house to play. Then, I am told Mrs. Anderson read to my mom (to help her release me to this instantaneous healing) the paragraph on top of page 237 in Science and Health: “A little girl, who had occasionally listened to my explanations, badly wounded her finger. She seemed not to notice it. On being questioned about it she answered ingenuously, ‘There is no sensation in matter.’ Bounding off with laughing eyes, she presently added, ‘Mamma, my finger is not a bit sore.’” (citation S6, 237:4)**
**Later “Nana Ruth” (Huff) wrote a book titled “Laughing Eyes” about her fun, grandparenting adventures. (It’s available for $5 plus mailing costs by calling or texting Warren at 314-378-2574.)
[NEW!] TO FOLLOW 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), “Jesus of Nazareth… (as) … the most SCIENTIFIC man that ever trod the globe” (cit. S9/313:23 CAPS added), would have to be thinking in terms of the “SCIENTIFIC statement of being” (SH 468:8-15, CAPS added). 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 Einsten 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.
_________________________________________
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/issues/1906/1/8-19/i-john-3-1-2-3
A more recent article, https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/2qbdz3euk9c?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/sentinel-audio/sentinel-watch/q-a-how-can-i-better-understand-the-scientific-statement-of-being
[New!] STAND WITH A PURIFIED HUMANHOOD, THAT IS NO LONGER INFLUENCEABLE BY ATTACKS OF EXTREMISM THAT WOULD CLAIM OUR MENTALITY AS ITS OWN IN AN
ATTEMPT TO POSSESS OUR THINKING.
This week ‘s citation B5/Luke 8:22, 26-35 led me to Cobbey Crisler insights from the version in Mark 5:1-15:
[Cobbey:] “In [Luke 8:22-35 and] Mark Chapter 5, Verse 1, we have the very strange incident in the country of the Gadarenes. The ancient texts vary all over the lot here: Gadarenes, Gadara, Garisenes, Garis, Gurgesenes, or Gergesa? Gadara was a town. Gerasa was also a town. Neither of them were anywhere near the shore of the lake. But Gergesa is. Right on the shore and located, at least according to recent findings, at the only spot on the Sea of Galilee where the event could ever have happened anyway. The only spot where the sea-place approaches the shore. So, it’s probably Gergesa. Matthew has Gergesenes and Luke Gadarenes.
“Mark 5, Verse 2. (Luke 8, Verse 26)“Coming out of the ship.” He’s over in Gentile territory, by the way. This is not Jewish territory. It’s on the Eastern side. It’s where the Decapolis cities are, the confederacy of Greek cities. Today the Golan Heights is part of the region.
“Verse 3. “He runs into a man who is living in the tombs.” Interestingly enough, there are rock formations right smack at the point where the Heights approach the sea, where you would say they have the appearance of tombs. “This man had not the strong man bound.” We see the strong man is really mentality, not anatomy.
Verse 3. You and I may have seen some of the pumping-iron movies, and we begin to think anatomy is the strong man. Hardly. Here we have a man of above-average muscular development, but mentally so out of sorts with what is normal. This man has exceeded certain human limitations and “he is able to break iron fetters, chains.”
Verse 4. “Nobody could control him.”
Verse 5. This shows mentality unleashed, undisciplined, and filled with a dualism. He would even attempt to oppose God, or in some cases imitate or ape God. This man’s dwelling is at both extremes. Night and day are extremes. Mountains and tombs are extremes.
Of course, you and I don’t recognize this mental effect, do we? Or do we commute between our mountains and our tombs? Are we in the pits? We know of manic depression, sure. But what about the mountains? Do we have our moments of altitudinous thinking, as well? Really inspired thinking? There we are, buying round trips daily on the mountain-to-tomb local. We get off on occasion somewhere in between. This man had taken it too.
You can see what happens when the carnal mind can no longer take the extremes. The dual personality splits. The kingdom becomes divided against itself. That is being illustrated here.
And the drug effect. Look at the drug effect, the mountains and tombs where these highs and lows flourish. Uppers and downers where one gets captured by the whole necessity for this. It becomes something so addictive, that in order to feel high or low, we need chemical inducement. So, this is not an outdated, outmoded, human problem. This kind of insanity is everywhere attempting to rule human thinking, including within ourselves. Jesus knew this. He was in a Gentile territory. It’s even out of the Jewish context. Therefore, it has a universality about it.
Verse 7. The man with the unclean spirit knows the presence of the cure. Notice the great resistance to the cure that we see illustrated here. “What have I to do with thee, Jesus?” How often is that statement repeated in varying degrees by every single person on this globe? Everyone who has ever heard of the Christ message? Even those claiming to be followers. “What have I to do with thee?”
When we compromise ourselves, or when we lower our standards under pressure, is it not the equivalent of saying, “What do I have to do with thee, Jesus?” Do we resent the role model he represents to thought? “Don’t torment me.”
Verse 8. We’ve got three different treatments here. One, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit.”The word for man is anthropu, which is the root of anthropological. It is not so much a specific man as man in general. It’s a generic term for man. “Come out of manhood, unclean spirit.” He’s talking about impurity. Impurity doesn’t belong within God’s definition of manhood. There’s momentum, again, being applied. Is there a healing? No.
Verse 9. So, the second, “He asked him, ‘What is thy name?’” Jesus is trying to pinpoint or identify the problem. And we find out, it’s very difficult to pinpoint because it’s “Legion.” Remember, when the remedy id oneness or monism, you already know what the problem is. The problem is always the opposite of the remedy. So, you have this multiplicity of problems and psychological reasons for why we’re in the fix we are. “Fix,” as sometimes applied to drugs.
“My name is Legion.” That’s a definition of impurity, by the way, “legion.” Purity is an unmixed state. So, we know what we’re dealing with. Remember one of the Beatitudes mentioned Matthew 5:8, it’s “the pure in heart that see God.”
So, purity is what we need as our “anchor of the soul” as Hebrews 6:19 says. Remember, that later Jesus calls upon “legions of angels,” (Matthew 26:53). Also, “Michael and his angels,” Revelation 12:7, are fighting “the dragon and his angels.”
So, we actually have this conflict here of thoughts. This is a confused mentality. Obviously, it’s chaotic thinking. It has no discipline at all. It’s no “first the blade, then the ear, and then the full grain,” Mark 4:28. That orderly sense of discipline in thought. It has lost all connection or link to possible discipline.
The third treatment given by Jesus in this individual case is one that actually has aroused a great deal of compassion for the swine among its readers. It would not seem to be part of Jesus’ normal procedure to wipe out a herd like this to make a spiritual point. But there is indeed a spiritual point here. One that has to do with the definition of manhood. Remember, Legion is the problem and oneness is the remedy.
Does man’s thinking, as you and I define it, contain a swinish element or nature? What is capable of being agitated by erroneous mental influence? Can manhood be ever defined as calm and free in his thought, when he has elements within his thought, that still victimize him rather than see him as the victor? Perhaps, we are being told here, through this illustration and event, that one of the “no’s” we are to be saying mentally is to the swinish nature that has attached itself to our identity and called itself “Legion.” Perhaps we are subjected to many influences, a legion of influences, instead of God alone the One on the throne.
We know that human nature does commute between the mountains and the tombs. The swine are said, in Luke’s 8:32 version (after cit. B14) of this, to be nibbling on the mountains. Symbolically does the swinish nature nibble at our altitudinous and highest moments? There is a violence to this self-destruction that occurs at the only spot on the Sea of Galilee where it is possible. If nothing else, we certainly can conclude that swinish nature had no built-in defense to such mental invasions.
Verse 15. Yet manhood can be freed from such influence. For this man, now “clothed and in this right mind” no longer is under subjection to legion. If his right mind is in this sense of oneness, the other mental state obviously was wrong. What expressed that mental state is self-destroyed.
Before this incident, we might have concluded that man had no defense against such mental incursions. Therefore, our mental hospitals are destined to be filled. But rather, we discover that man can separate himself out of swinish influences and still stand as a man. Yes, and stand humanly with a humanhood that has been purified. One that is no longer influenceable by the legion of attackers that would claim our mentality as its own in its attempt to possess our thinking without any rights of ownership.
When this incident begins to come to a close, we find that we can even see the sequence of things. Remember Mark 4:28, “first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn.” There’s more behind this blade. (That’s even the definition of animal later.)
Right now, as with everything else, we have the worldview upside down. You and I have been told that we are descendants of the animal kingdom. If that’s the wrong point of view, then the remedy is the opposite. Notice, animals and their natures belong to mankind, and can be found in the definition of man, rather than man finding himself in the definition of the animal.
That’s something we haven’t seriously considered in our twentieth century. Back in the first century, the notion that mankind may have descended from animals was considered absurd. But over time, the evolutionary theory suggested an entirely different kind of origin. This was the result of darkened and dualistic thinking. The mind that defines itself as coming from the animal realm, rather than the realm of the divine, becomes animal in concept. But divine revelation can clean us up. God defines man in a concept of holiness rather than unholiness. We need just to breathe in the Holy Spirit and take into thought what is holy.
I once heard a talk by Geith Plimmer. He recalled a biblical incident where, with such a compassion behind his expressed words, he discussed a dear man who was possessed. And he rejoiced with that idea of possession being used, because it showed that it didn’t really belong to him. He was possessed. The remedy he suggested was to dispossess. To dispossess is the remedy to possession.
Verse 19. How he loved those most glorious words humanly expressing love, “Go home to thy friends.” Here’s a man that had lived in the mountains and the tombs. How long has he had anyone whom he could call a friend? Where is his home? You see what Jesus is now defining as home and friends.
“Tell them.” Notice, he doesn’t tell him not to say anything. This is in a Gentile territory where he encourages the Word to go to other Gentiles. “Go home to thy friends.” Mr. Plimmer pointed out that here, when we first met him, he was a man that could be defined as completely irresponsible. Jesus not only heals him, but he restores the dignity of manhood, as he did in every healing. It was part of the healing. He also gave him responsibility. “Go home to thy friends and tell them.” He was one of the first Gentile disciples, if you could use that word, that took Christianity into that territory. What a prime responsibility for someone who could not account for his actions not very long before! Even before Paul, this man went to the Gentiles.
Is there any record of what he did? There is none past this. But it’s interesting that when the Temple in Jerusalem fell to the Romans in A.D. 70, the Christians, having an advance awareness that this was happening, moved in Pella, part of the Decapolis area. A lot of preparation had been done.”
“What Mark Recorded,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[New!] LIKE JESUS, HEAL BLINDNESS BY SHOWING CONTEMPT FOR A BELIEF IN A DNA-DUST MAN ORIGIN! WASH OFF EVERY TRACE of FAITH in a MATTER-based IDENTITY! [W.] Jesus’ healing of 2 blind men in Matt 9:27-30/cit. B14 is a great intro to Cobbey’s insight on how Jesus healed blindness as started by the disciple’s multiple-choice question to Jesus in John 9:1+
[Cobbey Crisler:] “John 9:2. The disciples ask Jesus “who did sin?
(A) This fellow over here? or
(B) his parents?”
John 9:3. Jesus had that paper before him as in the examination room on that point many times before. “He says,
(C), none of the above… [Or as Warren proposes as another right multiple-choice test answer (D) DNA (Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid (DNA) (the molecule that supposedly carries encoded genetic instructions) Does Not Apply!)]
[Cobbey continues his (C) answer of:] “None of the above. Neither hath this man sinned or his parents.”
What’s that saying about origin? Where is that man? His roots are not in parents or in some reincarnated experience…”
Notice what he does in John 9:6 and what it may remind you of. “He spat on the ground, made clay of the spittle.” That reminds you of man being made of the dust in the Second Chapter of Genesis Verse 6 and 7, doesn’t it? Would Jesus ever [by spitting show disgust or contempt for or] mock God if he considered that was the real way that creation occurred? Yet, it almost looks like a mockery of that. He’s taking on that concept of the man of dust. He’s spitting on that ground, into the dust, making clay of it, and slapping it on the eyes of the blind man.
John 9:7. The man goes to the pool of Siloam. He can’t see his way there. He’s got mud all over his face. He doesn’t go seeing. He comes seeing.” He comes only after he has washed off that symbolic making or formation of man out of the dust.
In a way, it might even give us a greater hint on what the true meaning of baptism is, the immersion in Spirit, nativity, and washing off every trace of the dust man.”
“Book of John, A Walk with the Beloved Disciple,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
Check out a great reenactment of this healing to the end of the story (verse 41) at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHBo7ka3YZQ
[New!] DAILY COMMIT to GLADLY OBEY EACH COMMANDMENT to FEEL God’s WHOLENESS WITHIN & PROVE/express “the whole of man in His image & likeness.” SH 340:9; Ex. 20:1+; Deut. 7:9;
Citation B16 in this Section 6 of this week’s lesson comes full circle with the Golden Text question “Can people make their own gods?” (Jer. 16:20) by answering with our first Commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) Jesus summarized that “the first and great COMMANDMENT” was to “love God with all your heart… soul & … mind” (Matt. 22:37, NKJV).
We can live the first great commandment of loving God with all our hearts by whole-heartedly putting into practice the 1st 4 Commandments, summarized below:
#1. Celebrate examples of God’s unfailing, freeing love if ever tempted to be worried!** Click on each Commandment # for elements of a Barry Huff podcast series on The 10 Commandments at ChristianScience.com/youth/resources-lists/sunday-school-teachers-teaching-resources/the-first-commandment-animated-tr
#2. **Quit thinking most about material things and bodies that will never be “up to the job” of being God.
#3. Don’t say O.M.G. (“Oh, My God!”) unless you are praying God’s name and expecting a quick answer!
#4. Remember—give loving attention to—God’s Genesis 1 Sabbath & work out from perfection, not up to it!
In the rest of Jesus’ reply to the question about “the great commandment of the law,” he said the second is like unto it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39, NKJV). It’s lived by whole-heartedly putting into practice the other Commandments, summarized as:
#5. Respect and obey all RIGHT authority figures and boundaries in your life.
#6. Refuse (re-fuse) to get angry, make fun of, or put anyone down! (an unchecked air of superiority leads to killing, Matt.5:21+)
#7. Seek deep satisfaction in all God’s given and keep your promises (unchecked lust leads to adultery, Matt.5:27+)
#8. Stop trying to GET happiness & instead try to GIVE it! (fulfill your “reason for existing… to impart truth, health, and happiness.” My. 165)
#9. Stop saying what’s not REALLY true of others or of you (bear true witness— “tell …the whole truth… so help me God!”)
#10. Feel & say of others’ good “Thank You God! That’s Mine Too! (TYG! TMT! Is more powerful than TNT!)
**I’ve found it helpful to know that Jews combine our 1st and 2nd Commandments as their 2nd Commandment. They regard the preceding verse not only as the 1st Commandment, but also as a divine reminder of how God saved them – delivering them out of slavery in Egypt: “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2 & Deuteronomy 5:6).
We can daily demonstrate and live out the healing power of the 10 Commandments as we live-up to the truism that “to (us) to whom much is given, much is expected.” With all my heart I praise and thank God daily as I mentally review the many prayer and Commandment-based healings God has given me (as partially listed below). With ALL glory to God, the following demonstrations of divine power have come to me as I have expectantly invoked the all-powerful ever-presence of living the Commandments:
- my yielding to divine Mind’s harmony 12+ yrs. ago for a rapid dissolving of a cancerous growth;
- an instantaneous healing of my arm when it was broken in a football game (a later x-ray verified a perfect bone-setting & healing before I played D-1 college football);
- a $100k unsolicited gift offer came minutes after I knew of this amount needed to re-roof the Lodge in May 1993 & felt deep advance grateful for God meeting the need;
- God filling CedarS Mediterranean Ski Lake w/60 million gallons of “holy water” in response to grateful prayer earnestly offered 6 days before CedarS 50th season (2021);
- another divine drenching as witnessed by 300 that came “out of the blue” and only over CedarS to put out a soccer field wildfire. (“Impossibilities never occur.” SH 245:27)
“What cannot God do?” [These testimonies & many others should be shared ASAP with the Christian Science periodicals.]
