Is my exercise rooted in Adam or Christ? This was a question I asked myself when I injured my back late last year. I have relied on Christian Science for over twenty years, but it wasn’t until I was sidelined with this injury that I was forced to examine my motives for exercise and athletic activities. 

The world strongly believes that exercise is required for health, strength, endurance, and beauty, and that athletic achievements are desirable for the self-worth they can give. This, however, is based on a concept of identity as encased in matter—as based in flesh and composed of muscles, tendons, nerves, organs, etc. It goes back to the second creation story in the Bible (the story of Adam and Eve) and the false belief it promotes that God “formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7)—in other words, that God put life into matter. 

The first chapter of Genesis, on the other hand, records man (each one of us) as created in the image and likeness of Spirit, God. This enlightened, spiritual concept later identified with Christ—the divine idea of God—indicates that our true substance has not a single material element.