Article May 21, 1921 Issue

Regeneration

G. HAMILTON BERRY

WHEN Nicodemus came to Jesus by night to learn about the new teaching which was causing the people of Galilee astonishment, it is recorded that he marveled and could not grasp the fact of the imperative need for regeneration. Now Nicodemus was an educated man, albeit along the Pharisaic lines of material thinking, and he had evidently been stirred by the healing work done by our Master, for he said, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." Nevertheless, when Jesus declared the spiritual nature of the real man and the necessity of being born again, that is, of waking up to this fact, it was more than he could accept.

Similarly to-day many inquirers turn to Christian Science to find out more about this practical religion that proves its words by its works, and at first find it hard to understand the fact that "the flesh profiteth nothing." Christian Science is based entirely on the spiritual meaning of the Bible, and teaches that "the flesh" and "the carnal mind," or, as Mrs. Eddy defines it, "mortal mind," are all one and the same, namely, an error of statement or mere counterfeit of the divine Mind and its idea, spiritual man, and that this error of belief has to be obliterated by knowing the truth about Mind and its idea, perfect and eternal. Paul says: "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Nevertheless, for centuries mankind have been adulterating and obscuring the teachings of Jesus the Christ in the vain attempt to combine Spirit and its opposite, matter, and then have been faced with the need for regenerating this obvious failure of a man. It was not until the discovery of Christian Science by Mary Baker Eddy, in 1866, that the futility of this proceeding was shown and proved, and a logical, demonstrable explanation of Christianity was given to the world in a form suitable to this present age.

The carnal mind does not take kindly to the teachings of Christian Science, for it sees in this religion its own ultimate extinction, and therefore clings to its old belief of the reality of a fallen man who needs regeneration. As of old its cry is, "Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us?" Now Christian Science makes it abundantly clear that regeneration is not the attempt to turn a bad mortal into a good one. Rather does it reveal the necessity for wakening to the fact that man in the image and likeness of God is spiritual and perfect right now and needs no regeneration, and that the mortal, material, so-called man is a base counterfeit, to be laid off as fast as practicable. This laying off process is one that concerns each one of us vitally as a student of Christian Science, inasmuch as the solution of the world's problems depends upon the aggregate demonstrations of individuals. A man really is not alive until he wakes up to the fact that man lives as the spiritual reflection of Principle, and this waking up is being born again, or rather becoming conscious of the all-inclusiveness of Life, God. We read in Corinthians, "And so it is written, The first man Adam was a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." That is to say, the "first man" is a belief of life in matter, which we all seemingly start with, but which must be quickened into the understanding that man first, last, and all the time is spiritual and not material.

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