PSST: Listen for and obey your Creator’s ” still small voice” to silent all others.

[PSST: Listen for and obey your Creator’s " still small voice” to silent all others. (1)
Demonstrate more patience in your daily activities! (2) …]
Possible Sunday School Topics for the Christian Science Bible Lesson on

“God the Only Cause and Creator”
for June 9, 2019

by Aubrey McMullin, CS, Godfrey, IL
(618) 578-9407 aubrey.mcmullin3@gmail.com

PSST Golden Text & Responsive Reading: The Bible teaches spiritual causation; it shows that Spirit, not matter, is the basis of being. The Psalmist, conscious of things unseen to the physical senses, declared of God (Ps. 86:10), "Thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone." Christian Science agrees with this premise and proves that God, divine Mind, is the creative Principle of all reality. How are we demonstrating that God is “God alone”? What are we doing to live that oneness of God? What, alone, can God do?

David says in the eighth Psalm, "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained: what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" The psalmist in humble mood had caught a sense of the all-Power and Presence, and the deprivation of material self-followed as a natural consequence.

Then finite sense, glimpsing the Infinite in that moment, is humbled before the presence of Mind omnipotent. Pride, self-will, self-righteousness, self-justification, all go down to their native nothingness, and mortal mind, stripped of its shadowy armor cries humbly, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?"

Mary Baker Eddy says in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 268): "Belief in a material basis, from which may be deduced all rationality, is slowly yielding to the idea of a metaphysical basis, looking away from matter to Mind as the cause of every effect. Materialistic hypotheses challenge metaphysics to meet in final combat."

The conflict in the world today may seem to be between nations, racial groups, people who are geographically competitive, or people with different beliefs—however, the conflict is really between the basic convictions of human thought: Is cause to be found in God or in matter? Does individual life begin with Spirit or with some primitive form of matter? Is man spiritual or material? Does power belong to divine Principle or to nonintelligent, material force? Is substance to be found in material wealth or in moral and spiritual values? How can we be looking at so-called conflict and handling those beliefs in thought?

Mary Baker Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 96): "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 Science and peace." Materialism seems to assert itself more aggressively as the Science of being becomes more widely understood. This is only because Science is separating the real from the unreal. Error's aggressiveness is an element of its nothingness, and that nothingness will inevitably be proved.

PSST Section 1: Who is the only creator?

John opens his Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (B1). He defines the Word as the life and the light of men and claims that "the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." Can the darkness of materialism ever destroy the light of Truth?

What is the substance which our Leader and Teacher lived to define in demonstration as related to the way of salvation? Was it not that we must each individually in the strength of God's word reverse material sense in order to live free from emptiness and destruction? In this personal material sense reversal, God's spiritual Word is found to be the "one very precious pearl." Are we willing to wisely "go and sell all that we have (self) and buy?" In the hearing and reflection of this are we "as a light shining in darkness;" "a city set upon a hill that cannot be hid?" In this only do we reflect straightforwardness and progress? When we listen for and obey "the still small voice” do all other voices become silent? Love's Word is then found present to sense as the only life, goodness and power; and we know then that it is immortal and eternal.

The opening words of the Bible are, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” What does this section tell us about our creator? What does it tell us about “all things?” Christian Science takes the first chapter of Genesis as the spiritual revelation of the eternal truth of creation. God is revealed infinite Spirit and man as His image and likeness, His reflection, therefore spiritual and immortal. The perfection of God and His spiritual creation, including man, is declared in the words, "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (B4).

Mrs. Eddy writes: "God is Mind: all that Mind, God, is, or hath made, is good, and He made all” (SH2). What does this mean for us, God’s creation, if there is one creator and one creation? What does this teach us about true oneness? What does this tell us about the ideas, the sons and daughters, of God (SH6)?

PSST Section 2: How do we witness the care of God’s creation?

For most of Job’s story, he wrestles with doubts about God’s nature and intent towards His creation. Have you ever felt a similar sense of doubt? How have you handled it? How might you support a friend or family member wrestling like Job was? How did God respond to Job? Were His answers final statements, or were they questions describing His supreme power and wisdom? How are you exposed to God’s power and wisdom? What do you think these questions from God were designed to do for Job? Did God ever humiliate or condemn Job? How was Job humbled throughout his story? Was his steadfastness and willingness to worship God without reservation rewarded? If so, how?

Patience, meaning constancy, being a quality of infinite Mind, belongs not to one age more than another. At this period of the world's history, when changes occur so rapidly and life appears to be a constant rush to keep up-to-date with the times, patience may seem largely absent. There seems to be so much to do and understand, and so little time in which to do it, that one may be inclined to seize what appears to him as right and good without honest reflection. How can we demonstrate more patience in our daily activities? How do we “wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept” (SH12)? What do you think the “perfect concept” mentioned here is?

In her sermon "The People's Idea of God," Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 1): "Every step of progress is a step more spiritual. The great element of reform is not born of human wisdom; it draws not its life from human organizations; rather is it the crumbling away of material elements from reason, the translation of law back to its original language. – Mind, and the final unity between man and God."

Man expresses the highest good continuously; he lives in constant oneness, or unity, with God, expressing His nature in the manifestation of His qualities. He is well because God is his Life and Principle his governor and regulator. He loves and is loved because divine Love sets the pattern for his experience, controls and directs all that touches him, enveloping, enfolding, and protecting him. He is happy because Soul's resources are limitless, never withheld from him, but poured forth ceaselessly and bountifully. He is content because the good that Spirit gives him is known to him, received by him through Mind's activity, and thus enjoyed and utilized without fear or restraint. Such is man's nature as God's child.

PSST Section 3: How does Christ reveal God’s allness and creation to us today?

Mortals are educated to believe that each individual has a mind of their own, existing and functioning in an organ called the brain, which is material. The brain is admittedly material, as all other matter, and is without power to originate thought, consciousness, or action. However, the brain is generally believed to be the origin of intelligence, and consequently it is believed that if one's brain is injured or diseased, their ability to think rightly is impaired. But the kind of thinking that is believed to emanate from the brain is not real thinking, because it is not of God.

In the 55th chapter of Isaiah, we read, “for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” (B10). Much of the difficulty in which mortals find themselves involved is due to the belief that there are minds many, existing apart from and entirely unrelated to the all-knowing, ever-present, omnipotent divine Mind, the origin of all true thoughts or ideas. Are those ideas which emanate from divine Mind righteous and enduring? Are these the thoughts which spiritual man possesses by reflecting God?

In her address, "Science and the Senses," Mary Baker Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 101-102): "God is individual Mind. This one Mind and His individuality comprise the elements of all forms and individualities, and prophesy the nature and stature of Christ, the ideal man." This is obviously the Mind of which was written in 1 Corinthians: “we have the mind of Christ,” as well as the Mind that Paul wrote to the Philippians, when he said, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." And it is interesting to note that Paul did not say "make," but "let" that Mind be in you. Therefore, letting the Christ-mind be in us is not a question of willing it to be so. Mary Baker Eddy affirmed this on page 332 in her textbook when she said that “Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness” (S13) and when she stated that “we can have no other Mind but His…” (S17). What mind are we accepting for ourselves? What mind are we demonstrating?

How can we be humbly receptive to the thoughts emanating from that Mind? And is this as simple and as gentle a process as raising a window shade and letting the light into a dark room? Does it involve struggle or unnecessary effort? As the light of divine intelligence comes into what is called human consciousness, does it naturally and necessarily displace everything unlike itself? Does healing and regeneration take place in human experience?

PSST Section 4: How are God’s works made manifest in us?

The account of the healing of the man who was born blind, given in the ninth chapter of John (B14), should stir thought to the Christian Scientist. The words, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him," reaffirm that God could not possibly create anything unlike good, since like produces like.

In the question his disciples put to Jesus, "Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" the belief is expressed that one may suffer for the sins of his ancestors. These arguments were presented to Jesus; but Mary Baker Eddy states in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (S19): "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 is real." Could Jesus have meant, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but [he lives] that the works of God should be made manifest in him"? Was he stating God's purpose in man, – to reflect God, to express in its entirety all that is good? Does this understanding destroy the belief that sin and sickness belong to man as part of God's creation? After showing by the anointing with the clay, that it was only false material sense which could claim to blind one to man's true existence as the son of God, Jesus employed water as a type of spiritual purification; we are told that the man "went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing."

Jesus refused to admit any reality in blindness, since it was not according to God's will. To quote again from Science and Health, beginning on page 476, "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals." Jesus did not change anything that was real. He began with spiritual causation, and saw God's man, sinless, spiritual, and perfect, not sinning, material, or imperfect; and, as Mary Baker Eddy (MBE) goes on to say, "this correct view of man healed the sick." We cannot be grateful enough that he has left his example for us, but how do we go forward and work to see as Jesus did – beholding the perfect man? How do we see heredity as a mortal belief and “learn that nothing is real but the right” (SH20)?

How do we answer MBE’s questions: “Does God create a material man out of Himself, Spirit? Does evil proceed from good? Does divine Love commit fraud on humanity by making man inclined to sin, and then punishing him for it? Would any one call it wise and good to create the primitive, and then punish its derivative? Does subsequent follow its antecedent? … Was there original self-creative sin?” (S21). How do we maintain the facts of Christian Science that we do know and are working to demonstrate (S22)?

PSST Section 5: How does Spiritual causation relate to human progress?

Healing in Christian Science comes about through the baptism of Spirit. The great need of mankind is for spiritual rebirth evidenced as spiritualization of thought, the visible sign and seal of man's divine sonship. Jesus said to Nicodemus (B16), "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." Christian Science reveals to us the new man. It demands our demonstration of this divine revelation. Christ is the true idea of God (SH24). It is this Christ-consciousness that brings forth judgment unto victory. Christian Science healing is done in the name of Christ and in demonstration of Christ, Truth.

In the light of Christian Science it is evident that the new birth of which Jesus spoke, is a spiritual nativity to which everyone must awaken. A necessary accompaniment to this new birth is a radical change from a material to the spiritual viewpoint of both God and man. False standards of religion and ethics must be exchanged for the true understanding of man's origin and destiny. If, for example, one believes that he is the victim of a supposedly inherited disease, prenatal weakness, or any other form of physical disability, how does Christian Science hold out to him the way with which to be born again? When questioned by Nicodemus as to how a man can be born again when he is old, Christ Jesus said: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (B16). How is this response a “good gift” (B17)?

The salvation and redemption of mankind must therefore begin with individual willingness to abandon belief in the fleshly origin of mankind, and to seek the true understanding of our Father which is in heaven, and of His Christ. When this spiritual causation (S23) and true view of man's origin has been accepted (S24), all attempts at self-analysis based upon physical diagnosis or upon so-called psychoanalysis are seen to be futile; and an understanding of the Science of spiritual causation becomes the only logical basis for health, true education, and development. As one progresses in the study and practice of this Science, it becomes increasingly self-evident that when a spiritual idea dawns in human consciousness and is put into practice in daily life it becomes a part of one's concept of existence; that is to say, it is made flesh in the sense that this spiritual sense of creation is actually manifested in daily experience.

Who has not witnessed the effects of right thinking expressed as peace, happiness, kindness, firmness, and numerous other forms of mental activity? These divine ideas or qualities, when understood and utilized in Christian Science, impart a healing influence; and this proves that the metaphysical prescription of the great Physician is the best medicine for the diseases to which the flesh is said to be heir. What examples from the Bible demonstrate for us this healing influence? What examples from the Bible show us that the Word of God is made flesh whenever Truth, Life, and Love are permitted to take possession of the thoughts and lives of mortals sufficiently to transform and heal them? What makes these examples tangible (S27)?

Can this change be initiated through the activity of prayer? What about by the healing influence of a Christian Science church service or lecture? Can it be initiated through the study of the weekly Bible Lessons, the reading of Christian Science periodicals or other literature, or through treatment from a Christian Science practitioner?

PSST Section 6: Are we worthy to behold and understand God’s creation?

The real man is formed spiritually and perfectly from the beginning, "before the world was" (John 17:5) – before mortality was perceived by physical sense. According to the true Scriptural record, God said (Gen. 1:26), "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Christian Science teaches that this "us" is Life, Truth, Love. Therefore, God created man in glorious forms of Life, Truth, and Love. These Soul-created forms are cognized by spiritual sense, and we are His witnesses of this (B19)!

Looking into the mirror of Truth, we can see our true spiritual being (S29), fashioned in the divine image which conforms to the spiritual model of perfection. This is the eternal reality of being. This reflection can never be distorted or annihilated, because it is inseparable from its original, God, good.

The distortions which the world holds before our gaze are unnatural formations. In the realm of material sense sick, discordant mortals are out of conformity with Mind's idea, man, and appear in outlines of matter, which are often misshapen or incomplete. The real man is not even touched by any phase of mortality (S31).

Can there be malformations in Love's creation, or anything out of balance, anything superfluous or deficient, anything ugly or inferior? Can there be anything within or without divine Mind that can cause incompleteness, abnormalities, or subnormalities? Is it contrary to the nature of God, omnipotent wisdom, to create anything unlike God, and is it inconceivable that He would give power to a mis-creator? Can evil have power in any shape or form?

As the true idea of God in Christian Science must lift all things to the realm of immortality and perfection, so inevitably Christian Science must establish in human consciousness the unity and harmony of concordant religion. What each successive step in this unfoldment may be or mean to each of us, will be apparent only as each step or demand of the divine idea is revealed and fulfilled. A metaphysical requirement is encountered here which demands careful consideration and exact thought (SH30). How do we recognize true unification and understand that all are worthy to behold and witness God’s creation as spiritual being?