Article December 31, 1955 Issue

CONSTANT, CONSECRATED EFFORT

ROY K. BOTTORFF

"One cannot scatter his fire, and at the same time hit the mark. To pursue other vocations and advance rapidly in the demonstration of this Science, is not possible." Here on page 457 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy reminds her followers that constant, consecrated effort is required in the study and application of Christian Science if they desire to attain the goal of healing as exemplified by Christ Jesus.

Opening the Bible to the first chapter of Genesis, we read that man was made in the image and likeness of God. But we find this statement reversed in the second chapter; there it is related that man was made of the dust of the ground. Christian Science accepts the first record of creation as the true one, and the second record as the false. In the first record we find man wholly spiritual and good. Paul said that in God "we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). In the second record of Genesis the Adam-dream, or material creation, is constituted of mortal discords—sin, disease, and death. Here we find mortal man dependent upon material ways and means for sustenance. Believing that life is in matter, he is thereby subjected to all the ills of the flesh.

Because of a lack of spiritual understanding on the part of mankind, it is the Adam-dream which seems real to many today. As a result of this lack of understanding and by reason of the blindness of the mortal or carnal mind to the unreality of its own concepts, the world seems to be held in the grip of sin, disease, and disasters from which there would appear to be no escape.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

SEPARATE THE DREAM FROM THE REAL