Article October 2, 1978 Issue

"Closer is He than breathing"

ROBERT A. MOSS

The poet Tennyson says of God, "Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet." Fundamental to Christian Science is its teaching—and proof—that God and man coexist, are inseparable. Christ Jesus knew this, for he said, "I and my Father are one." ^{John 10:30;} Christian Science follows and explains the teachings of the master Christian. It shows man to be the perfect expression of God, Spirit, Mind.

Could anything be more dynamic in inspiring one to soar to the heights of spiritual achievement than the growing understanding of man's present and eternal at-one-ment with God? Mrs. Eddy once wrote in a letter, "Did you but know the sublimity of your hope; the infinite capacity of your being; the grandeur of your outlook, you would let error kill itself." ^{Irving C. Tomlinson, Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1966), pp. 84-85 .}

Recognition of man's perfection as the reflection of God's being revokes the dismal sentences imposed by the false doctrine of original sin, the doctrine that man is a mortal fallen from his high estate. Sin, sickness, lack, self-doubt, inadequacy, and incapacity of any kind, which belong only to a false, material selfhood, yield to the glorious truth of man's God-given spiritual identity and invulnerable health, integrity, talent, and joy. By understanding this truth, one can progressively live it in its many implications. Of course, the understanding of one's own inseparability from God requires the acknowledgment of that of all others too.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

"Closer is He than breathing"

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access