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Notes and References for Sunday School Class Look how, in the text below, Moses’ prayer to God and his reasoning to the Israelites parallels a Christian Science treatment. From the history of the Jewish people by Flavious Josephus. This is the account of Moses at the Red Sea when the Israelites were ready to stone Moses for making them so vulnerable to the trap the Alexander and his Egyptian army had set for them, trapping them at the sea shore, surrounded by mountains. First comes his speech to the Israelites and then follows his prayer to God. When (Moses) was in the midst of them, he said, "It is not just of us to distrust even men, when they have hitherto well managed our affairs, as if they would not be the same men hereafter; but it is no better than madness, at this time, to despair of the providence of God, by whose power all those things have been performed which He promised, when you expected no such things: I mean all that we have been concerned in for our deliverance and escape from slavery. Nay, when we are in the utmost distress, as you see we are, we ought rather to hope that God will succor us, by whose operation it is that we are now encompassed within this narrow place, that He may deliver us out of such difficulties as are otherwise insurmountable, and out of which neither you nor your enemies expect you can be delivered, and may at once demonstrate His own power and His providence over us. Nor does God use to give His help in small difficulties to those whom He favors, but in such cases where no one can see how any hope in man can better their condition. Depend, therefore, upon such a Protector as is able to make small things great, and to show that this mighty force against you is nothing but weakness, and be not affrighted at the Egyptian army, nor do you despair of being preserved, because the sea before, and the mountains behind, afford you no opportunity for flying, for even these mountains, if God so please, may be made plain ground for you, and the sea become dry land." Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. S&H 587:3 GIHON (river). The rights of woman acknowledged morally, civilly, and socially. Mis 250:3 By what strange perversity is the best become the most abused,--either as a quality or as an entity? Mortals misrepresent and miscall affection; they make it what it is not, and doubt what it is. The so-called affection pursuing its victim is a butcher fattening the lamb to slay it. What the lower propensities express, should be repressed by the sentiments. No word is more misconstrued; no sentiment less understood. The divine significance of Love is distorted into human qualities, which in their human abandon become jealousy and hate. S&H 517:8 The ideal man corresponds to creation, to intelligence, and to Truth. The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love. In divine Science, we have not as much authority for considering God masculine, as we have for considering Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of Deity. Remember, Christian Science is the only religion on the globe that affords women total equality and even defines God as "Father-Mother". For more go to the Archive section of our Web Page and look under Women’s Rights for the many references and articles written by MBE on the subject. Also look at the Monitor Article in the Archives on The Universal Flag of Freedom written by a Christian Scientist who is a resident in Iran. |
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