Article December 28, 1992 Issue

Gaining a better understanding of God

The solution to our problems lies in a deeper understanding of our creator.

Lynn G. Jackson

Underneath the hustle and bustle of everyday life there can be a lot of fear. Nations fear domination, governments fear collapse, communities fear crime, people fear disease or poverty. Yet despite these apparent multiple causes of fear, we could conclude that, fundamentally, all fear is rooted in a misunderstanding of God, an ignorance of Him. If we were to gain the correct concept of God, we would find our fears dispersing and our increased spiritual understanding propelling us forward.

Any misunderstanding of God, infinite good, limits our experience of His goodness. We may believe God sends sickness to straighten mankind out. Or that He sends death as a punishment. Or perhaps that He allows our business or marriage to fail as a sign of His displeasure. Basing thought on this false sense of God's nature, we may even feel that He is unwilling to help or incapable of doing so.

Christian Science has come to awaken mankind to a better, higher understanding of God, to a more spiritual sense of Him as Spirit, Mind, Love—Biblical terms for Deity—as opposed to a mere anthropomorphic sense of the creator. Anthropomorphism ascribes human attributes to divine Spirit; it portrays God as limited, envious, temperamental. Through spiritual sense, however, we find God to be totally good, always providing for man's needs, as Christ Jesus proved so conclusively in his healing ministry.

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