Christian Science: Threescore Years and Ten

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He's "from everlasting to everlasting" Ps. Eternal Life could never include any limited sense of life, or of time, or of age. We can't conceive of God as young or old. God is ageless and immortal. Man, God's likeness, derives his life from God, who is the very source of life. Then man's true life is never dependent on time, age, or any material condition. As the individual expression of the one Life, God, man coexists with God. So man is no more subject to a limited sense of life, time, or age, than is God.

We can no more conceive of the real man as young or old, as born or dying, than we can conceive of God in this way. Man is as ageless and immortal as is God. It was on this basis that Jesus could say, "Before Abraham was, I am. He was speaking of the Christ, his spiritual identity. I might tell you here how we understand the relationship between Jesus and the Christ. Eddy explains it in this passage, "Jesus was the highest human concept of the perfect man.

He was inseparable from Christ, the Messiah, - the divine idea of God outside the flesh. This enabled Jesus to demonstrate his control over matter" Science and Health, p. This divine idea of God, the Christ, has always existed, and can never be touched by any belief of birth, age, or death. Because Jesus understood himself to be inseparable from the Christ, he could say, "Before Abraham was, I am," meaning that the Christ, his spiritual identity, is eternal, and so existed prior to Abraham.

It was this understanding that enabled Jesus to demonstrate completely his control over matter, even overcoming death and the grave. Before we can expect to do this as Jesus did, we must reach the height of spiritual understanding he reached. We must recognize our inseparability from the Christ, "the divine idea of God, outside the flesh.

This doesn't take place all at once. Spiritual growth comes gradually. But even a little of this understanding helps us to solve the simpler problems of our day-to-day experience. It's a great deal like learning mathematics. The beginner can't solve a problem in calculus. He doesn't understand it fully. He begins with the simpler problems. Then, as his understanding increases, so does his ability to solve the more difficult problems. In the degree that we understand spiritual existence, and apply this understanding in our daily lives, in that degree we will overcome the limitations of mortal existence, and so improve our present abilities and opportunities.

Then as our understanding increases, we experience higher proofs until we gain that full consciousness of spiritual existence. What are some of the simpler problems we can begin with? Let's consider the problems of health and physical well-being which sometimes appear as we reach that period known as "middle age. Often he encounters minor physical problems. And the middle-aged woman, particularly, may find this a trying time. In fact, it's the time when we all seem to experience the physical changes which are supposed to come with the passing of years.

What causes these bodily changes as we grow older? For years natural scientists attributed this to certain biological and chemical changes in the body. But more recently they've concluded that the composition of the body is constantly renewed - that every five years or so we get a whole new set of atoms that compose the body. Then what causes this aging process? The answer lies in an understanding of the relationship between body and thought.

The body doesn't act independently of thought. Thought controls the body. We make our body sick or well, weak or strong, old or young, according to the images of thought we delineate upon it.

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There's a story in Science and Health that illustrates this. It appeared originally in a London medical magazine. It's about an Englishwoman who became insane and lost all track of time. As a result, when she was 74, she appeared to be no more than Eddy gives this explanation, "She could not age while believing herself young, for the mental state governed the physical" p.

Now, that episode shows what can happen when one human belief replaces another human belief. But we must do more than just improve the human belief. We must correct the belief of mortal existence with the fact of spiritual existence. Then we discover that immortal Mind, not material thinking, governs and controls the body. When we understand this, we can overcome the challenge of this aging and changing process. This was proved in the experience of a woman I know. For years she had been happy raising her family and caring for her home.

But as she reached middle age, she began to experience certain bodily changes which brought both physical suffering and a deep sense of depression and unhappiness.

Her family was suddenly grown up. Her husband was preoccupied with his business. She began to feel unneeded. She was physically and mentally miserable. She asked a practitioner for help through prayer. He pointed out that age and this kind of change are both human beliefs, they go hand in hand. So, to overcome the belief of change, we must destroy the belief of age.

Man isn't an aging changing mortal. He's the ageless, changeless, spiritual idea of God. At every period he embodies the Godlike qualities which, as the image of God, he has always possessed. These qualities never change; never deteriorate with the passing of time. In the degree that we understand this we can prove that statement Job The practitioner also reminded the woman that man can never lose his sense of purpose.

Man is the evidence of God's being. Our purpose at every stage of life is to express God. We fulfill this purpose in the degree that we actively express God-given qualities in our daily life. This purpose never changes. It's only the human channels that change.

When our family is young and needs our care, then the family is the human channel through which we express such God-given qualities as love, patience, unselfishness. When our family is grown, there are still other channels through which we can continue to express such qualities. We just need to find them!

With the practitioner's help, my friend was soon healed of the physical difficulties. She also gained an entirely new outlook. She discovered new opportunities to express toward others that same love and unselfishness she'd expressed in raising her own family. Today she's one of the busiest and happiest persons you could find anywhere! As we move, in this human cycle, from middle age to old age, there are other beliefs to be overcome.

One belief is that our ears and eyes deteriorate as we grow older, and we need a hearing aid or glasses. This belief is so widely accepted today that these "crutches," especially the glasses, are considered practically indispensable after a certain age.

More in this issue / April 26, 1975

Need for glasses overcome. A friend of mine was shopping with another woman, who stopped to pick up some glasses she had ordered. The optometrist asked my friend where she bought her glasses. She said she didn't wear glasses. The optometrist insisted that anyone her age needed glasses. To prove his point, he asked her to read a chart on the wall.

She did, down to the finest print. He was surprised, but he still had the last word. He said, "Anyone with eyes like yours ought to have glasses to protect them! Now, there's more to this story of why my friend doesn't need glasses. Several years ago, she did have trouble with her eyes. She recognized this as a belief associated with age. So she began to pray each day to gain a clearer spiritual discernment of man's immunity from the beliefs of age and deterioration. She prayed to realize the spiritual fact that man's faculties are from Spirit, God, and so are spiritual and indestructible.

This statement helped her: They cannot be lost. Their reality and immortality are in Spirit and understanding, not in matter, - hence their permanence" Science and Health, p. Sight is a God-bestowed spiritual quality, or faculty, which man eternally reflects. Man can never be deprived of his true sight by age, because sight is never dependent upon the material organs called eyes. True seeing is as permanent as true being.

It can never deteriorate. It is as eternal, unchanging, and perfect as is God, immortal Soul. My friend proved this. As she gained this clearer spiritual discernment, she soon found her vision was again completely normal, and it's still that way today. If you're already wearing glasses or a hearing aid, don't let this keep you from acknowledging in thought each day the spiritual fact that true vision is spiritual discernment, and true hearing is spiritual understanding.

Don't be lulled into a sense of apathy just because the "crutch" provides temporary relief. Instead, reach out constantly for more spiritual discernment and greater spiritual understanding. Be persistent in claiming man's true nature as the child of God, and his eternal expression of his God-given faculties.

Many who have done this have seen more clearly their spiritual nature, and have heard more distinctly the voice of Truth. As a result, they've laid aside their "crutch" and have again experienced a normal sense of sight and hearing. The earlier in life we gain this enlightened understanding of spiritual existence, the more benefits we receive from it. But if we've passed the prime of life before we discover this truth, we should never get the feeling that we're too old to begin its study and reap its benefits. Eddy had subscribed to this theory, she might never have given Christian Science to the world.

At a time when the normal life expectancy was much shorter than it is today, she began her real life work in her 45th year when she discovered Christian Science. Many of her most important steps in establishing the Christian Science movement were taken when she was past what even today would be considered retirement age. Eddy's deep desire to share her discovery with the world inspired and sustained her in her life work. Her unselfish love for all mankind was the human expression of divine Love; and, as she says in one of her poems, "Fed by Thy love divine we live, For Love alone is Life" Po.

Eddy never retired, never lost her sense of activity and purpose, or of health, strength, and energy. She certainly practiced what she writes in Science and Health, "Men and women of riper years and larger lessons ought to ripen into health and immortality, instead of lapsing into darkness or gloom" p. Taking advantage of years. Today, human rules sometimes dictate that a man must retire from his business or profession just because he's passed a certain birthday.

But the real man never retires, never loses his sense of usefulness and purpose. There are always new channels, new opportunities to express our God-bestowed wisdom, energy, and vitality, and so continue to fulfill our real purpose in life to express God. We can take advantage of the years instead of allowing the years to take advantage of us! We can prove that, "God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis" Science and Health, p.

We see then that man's abilities and capabilities, his health, his spiritual faculties, his freshness and his promise, are never lacking. They unfold progressively; they never deteriorate. The man of God's creating exists forever at the standpoint of agelessness and immortality. This is the fact of spiritual existence. We've also seen that even a little understanding of spiritual existence improves our human experience at every age. If this is the result of a little understanding, what may a larger understanding of spiritual existence bring?

As we grow spiritually, we can confidently expect that every material limitation will be overcome. Now is the time to begin to work toward this goal. Eddy writes, "Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof. Life and goodness are immortal" Science and Health, p In the degree that we understand this, we shall recognize and begin to experience our true spiritual status as neither young nor old: The lecturer spoke substantially as follows: Limitations generally accepted Several years ago Mischa Elman, the well-known concert violinist, had a television interview.

Completely new approach to age These men and women and many others have made valuable contributions to the world, as they have overcome the barriers of age - some the barriers of old age, and others the barriers of youth. Basis in human belief A moment ago I spoke of the widely accepted view of man as an aging mortal. Listening for divine direction My young friend acknowledged in his prayer that God gives to each one intelligence to know the right thing to do, and the right time to do it.

Research was only intermittent until about ; after that the research occupied a great majority of her time. The research involved traveling to different libraries throughout the Midwest, copying from microfiche, typing, and proofreading every article at least 8 times and often much, much more.

Interpreting the Greek was particularly challenging! A definite progression can be seen during the time frame of through , where the writings become clearer and more significant.

More than Threescore Years and Ten

Encouraged by other Scientists to make these articles available to the public, the smaller booklets came into being, each being based on a specific theme. Angels" has been on Amazon's top list of religious e-books at least four times. Much gratitude and love to all those Christian Scientists for helping to make this possible and for your continued support. Are you an author? Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography. Learn more at Author Central. All Formats Paperback Sort by: Popularity Popularity Featured Price: Low to High Price: High to Low Avg.

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