Article July 26, 1919 Issue

Name as Character or Nature

ISRAEL PICKENS

In the light of Christian Science the true logic of the Bible is revealed, which renders coordinate its every statement from Genesis to Revelation. To him whose spiritual understanding is such that even an iota of its divine premises and conclusions can be grasped, it will be seen that this Book contains the truth of Truth, absolute and demonstrable. Thus arriving at truth, one can learn to think in accordance with its exact terms and demonstrate Truth. Until the advent of Christian Science, however, these wondrous truths of Scripture were hidden in the obscurity of materialistic definition and interpretation. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 338) Mrs. Eddy says, "The dissection and definition of words, aside from their metaphysical derivation, is not scientific." Many theological errors may thus be directly traced to a lack of the spiritual discernment so necessary to a grasp of the true metaphysical meaning.

We may take, for example, the Scriptural word, name. Even the casual student may see that when materially interpreted, this word is in many instances most confusing; while its spiritual import unfolds the wonderful light of its true and scientific sense. One of the synonyms a dictionary gives for it, and without doubt its most important one, is that of character. Throughout the Scriptures the word name, when ascribed to Deity, clearly signifies the nature or character of God. For instance, in the thirty–fourth chapter of Exodus we read that when Moses went up unto Mount Sinai to receive again the commandments, "the Lord ... stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord." The two succeeding verses record significantly, and at least in part, what the name of the Lord implies: "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." It is through the attributes and qualities which express and reveal His divine nature, that the human consciousness conceives of and understands God.

Again, this may be clearly seen in a study of the third command of the Decalogue, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Literally this commandment has been taken to mean that we shall not curse or swear in language that employs the name God, or use His name in any manner in a sense of sacrilege. Spiritually expressed, it includes a great deal more. In this clearer light we may see that it speaks to man in unmistakable language, forbidding him to attempt to take vainly upon himself the prerogatives of God. Adam was attempting to do this very thing when he listened to the false promise, "Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Scientifically speaking, man cannot take upon himself the name or character of God in vain. His faculties are reflection, not possession, and he therefore reflects God, good, only.

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