Article November 14, 1983 Issue

A "liftoff" checklist

ELIZABETH A. EVANS

Many of us have listened with mounting excitement to the countdown as the United States astronauts prepared to lift off from earth. At the final check, when all systems are "go," we may have held our breath until mission control said, "We have liftoff!"

The checklist used prior to liftoff represents a great deal of accumulated scientific knowledge. It enables mission control and the astronauts to check the operational status of all systems aboard the spacecraft and thus increase the likelihood of a safe launch.

A checklist of points concerning the nature of God and man can also be developed. I first realized this while I was studying the subject of man in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. I was using the Concordance to this textbook in order to read every reference on the subject. I became particularly intrigued by the Concordance references headed "man is ...," and wrote them down. As I reread and thought about the citations, I realized that they represented a set of absolute facts about the real spiritual man and his relationship to God. I organized these citations into a checklist of descriptive terms outlining man's real being: spiritual, perfect, complete, pure. These and other attributes could be claimed as the facts of my or anyone's true nature. I saw as well that every statement descriptive of man's relationship to God could be read in the light of the seven synonyms for God given in Science and Health: Life, Spirit, Truth, Love, Principle, Mind, Soul. Thus, since man is governed by God, this means he is governed by Mind, Love, and so on.

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

Send a comment to the editors
NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Article
The prospector
November 14, 1983
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit