Article September 1, 1986 Issue

"In Christ shall all be made alive"

SIBYL HENRY

"As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." I Cor. 15:22. These words from First Corinthians repeatedly rang in my thought as I was confined to my bed in a hazy stupor. I had been experiencing a severe debilitating illness that put me to bed for a couple of days at a time. This particular day my husband had taken our toddler son to the neighbor's for care. I lay inert and fearful, fearful that I might be passing on. Then the angel message came in the words quoted above. Over and over they came to me until I was able to focus on their meaning.

I thought: "I call myself a Christian Scientist; therefore I am committed to follow Christ. Jesus instructed his disciples, 'Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils.' Matt. 10:8. And Mrs. Eddy makes clear in her book Science and Health, 'Christians are under as direct orders now, as they were then, to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as the sinning.' Science and Health, p. 138. As a Christian, then, I am committed to proving that I, in fact, am following Jesus' instructions." I saw, then, that I did not have to give credence to anything associated with Adam—mortality, sin, evil, disobedience, fear. I must wake to recognize the Christ, know that I am actually imbued with it, and demonstrate it—by living, not by dying.

Christian Science turns us back to the record of creation as it is written in the first chapter of Genesis. There man is made in the image and likeness of God, who is Spirit. Therefore man must be spiritual, and Spirit never dies. In that first chapter of Genesis we also find several times that God saw what He created as good. The record states (at the beginning of the second chapter) that creation was finished; so it is complete.

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