What is God’s Name if it is not Love

July 31, 2008 at 12:50 am | In Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, love | Leave a Comment
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I saw online someone asking a question, “What is God’s name?” This made me think of Pilate asking Jesus toward the end of Jesus’ life on earth, “What is Truth?” Mary Baker Eddy in her textbook that all Christian Scientists study, answers all throughout that book, the question of what God is, his nature, essence characteristics, lifestyle, aspects, foundation.

Mary Baker Eddy in her revelation of Christian Science, the science that proves Jesus’ words and healings, was led to write down seven names for God, and these seven are, “Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.” These names say it all, they are more than names, or seven synonymous terms for God. They are God’s seven characteristics as my Christian Science teacher, Glenn Evans, once said. I cherish that very much.

The seven characteristics of God, should be our starting-point everyday, every hour of every day. All is God, and that should be where our thought dwell. Our thought should be reflecting the ligth of Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth and Love. These are healing words when understood, and each characteristic has an infinity of ideas the define, and explain each name, characteristic for God, good.

A statement by Mary Baker Eddy, and one of my favorite because it disciplines my thinking, and tells me how to begin anything. It says:

“The starting-point of divine Science is that God, Spirit is All-in-all, and that there is no other might nor mind,- that God is Love and therefore he is divine Principle.”

Think of the power, and glory in that spiritual truth. God is Spirit, and all, and Love, and Principle, and nothing else is. We begin with God, Spirit, all good, because God is All-in-all, and that is that. We begin with Good, the all-good, because he began with us, His image and likeness, as the book of Genesis in the Bible says.

After contemplating what God is, filling out consciousness with this spiritual food, we next acknowledge what God is not, and that removes sin, sickness, and even death. If God is Spirit, and All-in-all, and Spirit is not matter, than, the opposite of Spirit, which is matter, is not real. God alone is all, all that is real and eternal, and God is Spirit, not matter. He can’t be both sweet water and bitter. God is good, and good is Spirit, and Spirit is God, therefore, in syllogistic logic, there is no matter anywhere. The seven characteristics of God stated above eliminate any opportunity for matter, and the triad of sin, sickness, death, to be real. We have Spirit, and all good, all that is real, lasting, mighty, wonderful. We have God, and his image and likeness, spiritual, harmonious and perfect.

The last name for God, which Mary Baker Eddy gave in answering the question “What is Love”, is Love. God is Love. These are natural in all things. God is Love expressed as man, woman, child, animal, tree, sun, moon, seas, houses. God is doing one thing only: loving. God, good is loving eternally, infinitely, since God is Love. Love is the starting-point, my starting-point, and if you let it, your starting-point. It is only natural.

You can find so much about “Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love” by reading, and studying, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. This book is a scientific and spiritual explanation of what God, good, is. I make it a part of my day to study this book, and get more familiar with the nature, and essence of Mind, good, Love.

When we are filled with God’s names, nature, essence as reflection, it is easy to start wtih God, and to be the starting-point that says that “there is no other might nor mind,” only God, Spirit, Mind, Love, Principle.

Pages and passages from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:
Page 275: 6-9; Page 465: 8-10

Love is the necessary ingredient

July 28, 2008 at 3:37 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
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A healthy soil needs oxygen. A successful campfire needs oxygen. The process of photosynthesis that takes place in the leaves of trees and other plants, produces oxygen in the air, that we all need. However, something else is needed to be the children of God, the All-in-all. That something Love.

Stronger, more vital, all-embracing, reaching out in all directions, manifesting itself as itself, as perfection, loveliness, goodness, glory, is Love, the Love that is God, good, All-in-all. The love of Love is always loving and manifesting, and the result is you and I. We are Love expressed, and therefore, we are Love’s divine, perfect idea now and forever. The oxygen in our air, the oxygen as God knows it to be, is Love. We breath Love, feel Love, and are constantly nourished and cared from by Love. It is Love, God, good that feeds, and comforts us.

To get anywhere or to do anything successfully, we need to harbor in thought the best concept ever. That concept is, God is Love. Not just words, but, God is Love is all true substance, all reality, all living, all activity, all power, all presence. We can’t go wrong by dwelling on that divine concept in consciousness. God is Love is divine Principle. Where God is Love is, and Love is the divine Principle ordering and governing the universe and all the many interactions in the universe, including earth.

The book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, discusses in scientific, but simple detail, the allness of Love. The author of that book after studying the Bible for years, was spiritually awakened to name God as Love, which is in keeping with the Bible teachings. All through the bible we can read about Love’s healings of all types, and Loves triumph over mortal beliefs. God is Love is explained in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures to give us a better understanding of what God is and Love is, how to apply the concept, God is Love in daily activities.

Since God is all, and God is Love, all is Love, and all is good. Love is perfection, since God is perfect, and therefore, all is perfection, in my experience, and your experience.  The Love of God is infinite, eternal, perfect, and perfectly expressing its divine idea, man, woman, and the universe. All is perfect and good in Love.  On page 275 of Mary Baker Eddy book, she says, “The starting-point of divine science is that God, Spirit is All-in all, and there is no other might nor mind. That God is Love, and therefore, he is divine Principle.”

The Principle that God is, and which governs man, you and I, is Love. Love does not need material elements such as oxygen. Love just needs Love, and to express Love. All is Love.

Mary Baker Eddy speaks about Life and Abundance

July 23, 2008 at 8:14 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
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Mary Baker Eddy discusses all human issues, including the issue of lack, not having enough, a famine of good things. She discusses this and God’s nature of goodness in her textbook, one that Christian Scientists the world over use and honor: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

In her chapter, Recapitulation, there is a question, “What is Life?” This chapter is filled with questions and answers that Mary Baker Eddy used with her students to teach them the healing truths of Christian Science, and to this day, Christian Scientists going through Class Instruction in Christian Science healing practice, get to learn this chapter inside and out, as it is the foundation of the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy.

Going back to the question, “What is Life?” on page 469, the answer reads as follows:

“Life is divine Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit. LIfe is without beginning and without end. Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity. One ceases in proportion as the other is recognized. Time is finite; eternity is forever infinite. Life is neither in nor of matter. What is termed matter is unknown to Spirit, which includes in itself all substance and is Life eternal.”

The definition goes on for a few more sentences. Mary Baker Eddy grasps very well the nature of God as Life. She uses seven synonyms to describe the nature of God, and each is capitalized to give it importance. Underneath each name for God can be listed innumerable qualities for each name or synonym. The seven are: MInd, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.

Her book is a study of these seven terms, names,synonyms, characteristics for God, and helps us see that God is not just a word, but has profound meaning and practicality. By itself, God means nothing, so we need a scientific explanation, and this explanation is found in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

When I think of Life from a spiritual perspective I like to think of infinite abundance, infinite supply, infinite nourishment. Life is used in the bible as father, fatherhood, origin, abundant good. Life’s idea or image is man and the universe. Therefore, in a scientific, and spiritual perspective, man has abundance since God is Life, and God is all, and God is good. This, I am so grateful for, and shouldn’t we all be. God, our Father, Creator, has given us abundant good, and we don’t always see it or feel it. We see lack, impoverishment, missing abundance. Yet, if we see as God sees, we can only see everything made by God as good, perfect, and harmonious. The Holy Bible will reinforce this idea. Genesis says that “God saw everything that he made and behold it was very good.” That has always been one of the favorite bible versus among Christian Scientists.

One way to understand better, the idea of life, which is abundance, is by replacing the words, “Life,” and “eternity,” in the answer to Mary Baker Eddy’s question, “What is Life?” Then, we can reread it understanding that time, beginning, ending, finiteness and matter have nothing to do with abundance, the abundance of God, all-living Life.

The Life of abundance has always been our Life, our abundance. God has made us in the image and likeness of abundance, and really, the statement that man is image and likeness, which comes from the bible book of Genesis, is saying that man has everything that God has, which is infinity. The statement could have said that the universe, all animals, geological formations, the seas, and man, are the image and likeness. However, no where in the bible is anything stated as the image and likeness of God, except for man. This must make us feel special, as God’s perfect child. Man is the highest idea of God, and so is never without infinite good, infinite supply, infinte ideas of Mind, the one good, all-creative Mind, God.

Our Most Important Questions Answered by Mary Baker Eddy

July 21, 2008 at 9:02 pm | In Christian Science, system | Leave a Comment
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In the chapter called Recapitulation, Mary Baker Eddy’s book, Science and Health with Key to the Scripures, we find a series of questions and answeres starting with the most basic and important out the universe, to the more human, and local. The first question she asks is, “What is God?” This is the fundamental question.

Mary Baker Eddy’s books and many of her articles discuss the nature, essence and meaning of God from a purely scientific perspective. She names God as Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love, and these seven names symbolize completeness, since seven in the Bible is the symbol for completeness. These seven synonymous terms for God include All-in-all, all there is to man, and the universe. All things are included in these seven.

When we make them a constant companion in thought, we see healings and Truth’s revelation of health and harmony. We see God present everywhere. The “I” is saying, “I am Mind, and I see as Mind sees. I am Spirit, and I see spiritually all the goodness around me, infinity. I am Soul, and I see joy, and spiritual understanding. I am Principle. Harmony is all. All is harmony: harmonious Principle, and harmonious idea. I am Life, and I see my idea man, living, and being, harmonious, and perfect. I am Truth, and I see the ideal of all, the real and eternal. I am Love, and I see only the infinite abundance of perfection.

Other questions in this chapter include: “What is the Scientific Statement of Being?” The answer to that question  is so profound, and should be our daily prayer. It is the foundation of life. It starts off  like this:

“There is no life, truth, intelligence or substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God, is All-in-all.”

Isn’t that a revolutionary statement to the mortal, erring senses that influence us. The first about matter just throws matter out the window. the second establishes what is already established in Genesis 1 in the Bible: God, the Creator, and his perfect, good creation.

Take time to ponder the many questions and answers in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. The answers are healings, praise, prayers, truthful affirmation of the infinite good, which is Mind, Spirit, God.

Infinite Love Sustains Us

July 19, 2008 at 10:59 pm | In Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, Mind, Spirit, love | Leave a Comment
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Mary Baker Eddy in her classic work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, writes on page 567, “To infinite ever-present Love, all is Love, and there is no error, sin, sickness and death.”

To God, who is infinite Love, all is Love, and that is all that God can see. God, Love only sees loveliness, and perfection in everything. The book of Genesis says that “God saw everything he had made, and behold it was very good.” Now that is not just good, but it says, “very good.” I interpret “very good” as Loveliness, and perfection. God could not see anything less than loveliness and perfection in everyone and everything, since he is the potter who formed the clay, the Creator who created all ideas in the Mind of Love. God is the Father-Mother of the universe, and his Kingdom is here right now, as Jesus even stated, in the phrase, “Thy kingdom come,” and “behold, the kingdom of God is at hand.”

If God is the Father and King of his infinite, perfect kingdom, that we are the sons and daughters of God, the King, and therefore, we have everything our father, the King has in his kingdom. Our blessings are wealth, and running over. We are the sons and daughters of the King, and our King is divine Love, infinite good, the perfect Creator, all-knowing, and all-seeing Mind.

Christian Science teaches all this, and makes this practical on a daily basis.

Mary Baker Eddy has a chapter in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, devoted to the Bible book, Genesis. That chapter is very important to study in light of the biblical seven days of creation, which are seven days of thought. In that chapter we learn that each day of creation is identified by one of the seven names for God that Mary Baker Eddy teaches: MInd, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. Together these seven names, and the seven days of creation represent the idea of perfection and completeness. Seven is seen in a number of places in the Bible under this meaning.  When we see ourselves as God’s creation, having all that God has as his image and likeness, or his reflection, we see our completeness, wholeness, loveliness and perfection, and behold, we were made “very good.”

The Joseph Story is a bedrock of Trust

July 19, 2008 at 3:27 pm | In Life, love | Leave a Comment
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One of my favorite bible stories is the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. Joseph symbolizes unfaltering trust in God. Never once, during that story, during all his trials, did he not trust his Creator, infinite Mind, infinite Good. He was always about doing the right thing, and Joseph embodies the right, the pure, the loving, the unshakable will to follow Principle, and to trust God, Good.

Remember, Joseph was the youngest son of the 12 sons of Jacob, and he was envied by his older brothers because of his closeness to their father, and the things their father did for Joseph that were not done for the older brothers. The father made Joseph a beautiful coat of many colors, a coat that had to have been product of a lot of hard work. The brothers set up a plan, or rather, a plot to remove Joseph from their presence, and the presence of their father. The destroyed his coat one day, threw him into a pit of limestone, left him to be sold into slavery, and lied to their father and said that a wild beast devoured Joseph, and tore his coat of many colors.

Joseph never once took out revenge towards his brothers or had any sense of hate. Joseph was always loving, and kind. This will be seen later in the story when Joseph has the job of providing for, and feeding the people of the lands of Pharaoh, with food, particularly corn, during the seven years of famine that came about. Joseph’s father, who had no idea of Joseph’s position as the right hand man of Pharaoh, and the one in charge of the food supply, sent his sons to Egypt to purchase food, since the famine was impacting all the world around Egypt. Joseph loving supplied his brothers with corn, and filled their bags to overflowing, and also gave them their money back so that in reality, they received food for free. Joseph had the power to hurt his brothers and put them away for ever, but he loved them regardless of their animosity toward’s him, the loving Joseph.

This story is so filled with the abundance of Life, Truth and Love. Life expressed in that Joseph was not destroyed, the people were not destroyed during the horrible famine, and Joseph’s family were not harmed. Truth was expressed by the healing power of God’s lovingkindness, reflected in the care and affection shown by Joseph towards his brothers. He even cried after revealing him to them. They felt that divine Love that corrects every situation, and felt bad for what they did years ago to Joseph. They overcame their envy, their hate, and learned a lesson of love.

Mary Baker Eddy in her work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, gives the spiritual meaning of the bible character, Joseph. She says in the Glossary chapter, page 589, that Joseph, is “a higher sense of Truth rebuking mortal belief, or error, and showing the immortality and supremacy of Truth; pure affection blessing its enemies.”

Does that not fit the character Joseph. We too, can put on this Joseph thinking, being, character and express those qualities of affection, blessedness, truthfulness, and have a higher sense of Truth instead of a limiting human sense. Each bible character serves to lead us higher in our spiritual understanding. It is not so much the events of a story rather than the development of the main character in the story that is important.

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