Article February 13, 1954 Issue

"THE GREAT ATTAINMENT"

ISRAEL PICKENS

Christian Science teaches that man is spiritual and perfect; that he is made in the image and likeness of God, as brought out in the first chapter of Genesis. However, the attainment of this understanding of man's perfection as the child of the one perfect God may come to the human consciousness gradually. On page 428 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," in a paragraph with the marginal heading "Vision opening," Mary Baker Eddy states: "To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear,—this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true. Thus we may establish in truth the temple, or body, 'whose builder and maker is God.'"

The Apostle Paul referred to man as the temple of God, and in a letter to the Corinthians he wrote (I Cor. 3:9), "Ye are God's building." With the understanding which Christian Science gives we can readily see that this temple, or building, is not a material structure but a wholly spiritual one.

Every structure has its foundation. In her divinely inspired writings Mrs. Eddy teaches us much on this subject. For example, she emphasizes this fact in her article entitled "The Way of Wisdom" in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (pp. 356, 357). Here she points out the necessity of erecting the building, or temple, of God in consciousness, upon a wholly spiritual foundation, upon the Rock, Christ. We have not as yet wholly overcome the claims of matter, or material sense, but, as Christian Scientists, we have begun to build on the true foundation of the allness of God and the utter nothingness of matter.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

"THE GREAT ATTAINMENT"

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access