Editorial January 2, 1932 ISSUE

Man's Spiritual Origin

Duncan Sinclair

In Christian Science the true relationship of God to man is revealed. God is infinite Mind; and Mind expresses itself in ideas; hence man is the idea of Mind. Christian Science also reveals the fact that man is the image or reflection of God, even as does the Bible. Mrs. Eddy says on page 63 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "In Science man is the offspring of Spirit;" and a few lines farther on she continues, "Spirit is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being." These inspired words bear close resemblance to those of the master Metaphysician, Christ Jesus: "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." God, he knew, is the origin, cause, or Father of man, and man has no other origin. The Nazarene had, thus, the same understanding of the relationship of man to God as Christian Science gives.

Since God is perfect Mind or Spirit, what, then, must be the nature of His offspring, man? Since like produces like, or effect resembles its cause, man must be spiritual and perfect. Indeed, being the image of Mind, man reflects all the perfect qualities of Mind. As our revered Leader so well puts it on page 79 of "Miscellaneous Writings," "Man's origin and existence being in Him, man is the ultimatum of perfection, and by no means the medium of imperfection." When we have acknowledged God as infinite and perfect Mind and perceived man to be divine Mind's perfect reflection, we cannot fail to understand the marvelous truth that the real man can never in the least degree be subject to imperfection.

Now the true nature of man as revealed by Christian Science is very different from the beliefs held about him by mortals. In the first place, mortals regard man as material. They believe he comes into being at the time of so-called human birth; that he is therefore of human parentage. They believe that he grows from infancy to manhood, and then declines until he dies. What a contrast these erroneous beliefs present with the truth about the real man! How utterly different the one from the other they are! What must be said about these material concepts, these material beliefs about man? They must one and all be regarded as utterly false. Accept the truth about God and man as Christian Science reveals it, and every material belief about man must be declared unreal.

The Christian Scientist is in no doubt as to the truth about man, in no doubt as to the unreal nature of so-called material man. And being in possession of the truth about the real man, he is in the position of being able to refute the material fallacies about man, and so to destroy them. Consider what the acceptance of the false material beliefs concerning man's origin and nature appears to do. It is responsible for sin and disease in their every form; it brings upon mortals all manner of inharmony and suffering; it ultimates in the belief of death. The human race needs deliverance from these seeming effects. And the way this can be brought about is through the understanding and demonstration of the absolute truth about spiritual man as revealed by Christian Science.

Mrs. Eddy never hesitates in her writings to expose the fallacies of material sense; she strips them of all disguise, and shows their nothingness. Thus, on pages 286 and 287 of Science and Health she writes: "They [sin, sickness, and death] are without a real origin or existence. They have neither Principle nor permanence, but belong, with all that is material and temporal, to the nothingness of error, which simulates the creations of Truth." Sin, disease, and death have no Principle, no Mind, no source or origin; they do not, therefore, have any relationship whatever with man, "the offspring of Spirit." As this is understood and realized by men, they will rebel against every phase of inharmony; and as they demonstrate the truth of man's true spiritual selfhood, they will be freed from the errors, the illusions, of material sense.

And while the understanding of man's spiritual origin and true nature heals and saves, it is also a sure protection to those who possess it. Man—individual man—as the idea of God, is coexistent with God. Is not man, therefore, unchangeable? Like his divine Principle or Mind, he is indestructible, eternal. "Life is the law of his being." The endeavor should be made to strengthen our conviction of this great truth, to gain an ever clearer understanding of man's unity with God, man's coexistence with God; for thereby we shall rise above material sense and become its master, losing all fear of death—that which divine Science exposes as mortal illusion.

God is the Father, the origin, of man. As John writes inspiredly in the first chapter of his Gospel, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."

Duncan Sinclair

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit