In the Christian Science Bible Lesson May 14, 2012 Issue

'Tone up' your spiritual identity

For the lesson titled "Soul and Body" from May 14-20, 2012

Brian Hall

Whether we’re watching television commercials, looking at the covers of magazines, or listening to conversations in the workplace or at school, it’s hard to escape the feeling that our lives are ruled by our bodies—their shape, their size, or their condition of health. Thankfully, this week’s Bible Lesson, titled “Soul and Body,” clarifies the truth about such issues.

The Golden Text tells us from the very beginning we should be turning to God by placing our hope in Him because He is the source of our health, which includes our body (see Psalm 42:11). The problem of the material body and its proper role in our lives is not a new one. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato referred to the body as a prison cell; it was something that must be endured and dealt with for a period of time. Several hundred years later, the Apostle Paul would remind the church in Corinth of primitive Christianity’s perspective on the body: “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (II Corinthians 5:8, citation 9). Paul seems to be suggesting that we can make the body less significant in our lives as God becomes more present in our experience. And the first Science and Health citation in this Lesson gives some insight as to how this might happen for us: “Christian Science explains all cause and effect as mental, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and body” (p. 114).

We can make the body less significant in our lives as God becomes more present in our experience.