Article February 14, 1920 Issue

The Mother-Love of God

ALMA LUTZ

The Bible is full of assurances of the nearness of God, of His mercy and love toward man, and of His patience. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness," says the psalmist, "and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" And yet the average man thinks very little about God. To him the Bible is a closed book. It is in his library because for some inexplainable reason he reverences it. Either he cannot comprehend it and lays it aside, or he regards it as so much theology or history, wholly impractical in connection with the complicated, advanced civilization of his own day. He may concede the existence of a God, but an unknown God, a complete mystery. He cannot love a God who sends sickness, sorrow, accidents, and wars into a helpless world. He cannot understand the vagaries and vicissitudes of daily experience, and speculates as to the wisdom of a guide who allows such things to be. Eventually he tries to put God from his thoughts.

Man cannot, however, separate himself from God. It matters not how much he thinks he has steeled himself against all religious beliefs. The time comes when almost unconsciously he reaches out toward something higher, better, purer than himself. The Bible says, "Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." It is here that Christian Science finds mankind. it shows them a God who is Love, who is ever present and ever helpful. It opens the Bible for them, illumines its pages so that what before seemed antiquated and lifeless is found to be of vital import to their daily lives. In this age perhaps nothing has tended more to awaken in men a desire to know God than has Mrs. Eddy's interpretation of Him as the Father-Mother of us all, thus bringing to our attention the qualities of love, tenderness, and protection, as well as the more generally acknowledged characteristics of power, strength, and dominion. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 332) Mrs. Eddy describes God in these words: "Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation."

This concept of God as Father-Mother was not an innovation of Mrs. Eddy's, but is found again and again in the Bible, although apparently unrecognized. In the first chapter of Genesis we read, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." This clearly indicates that the qualities or characteristics of God, the creator, are feminine as well as masculine, for an image is similar in every detail to its original. In the fourth verse of the ninety-first psalm we find the metaphor, "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust," to indicate the sense of God's protecting love. Perhaps no other psalm has brought greater comfort to mankind than this psalm with its message of God's tender care and protection. According to Isaiah God spoke thus to a repentant people, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

The Mother-Love of God

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access