Article February 11, 2013 Issue

Genuine substance—exclusively spiritual

Mark Swinney

Readers of the Sentinel can’t help but love how this publication watches trends in world thought, good and bad, assisting people in holding guard in their hearts over a clear sense of what God truly is and what God truly is doing. There are some trends in the world that arrive and burn out as quickly as a falling star. Others are around significantly longer.

One such trend to watch—one that has been around so long that it’s easy to be numb to it—is the traditional concept of substance as matter, including all the severe limitations that come with it. No doubt, whether 5,000 years ago, ten years ago, or today, this is one great imposition that would restrict whatever any person may want to do or experience. But is there really anything we can do about it? The basic ingredients of life simply appear to be matter, whether we like it or not.

Right smack in the face of every single limitation of physicality, Jesus gave the world practical proof that genuine substance is not matter, but is exclusively spiritual. Go back to biblical times, and picture yourself there in the crowd on the day that Jesus fed several thousand. Perhaps, as you sat there eating away along with so many other people, and because you’d observed how he’d begun with only two fish and a few loaves of bread, you’d start to suspect the substantiality of matter itself. Could this piece of bread that you originally thought was a physical substance turn out to be something altogether different—maybe a sort of symbol of the divine and ever-present goodness that is without limit?

About the author

Mark Swinney is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher, and also a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship. He teaches his classes in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, area.

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