9/9/01 You're made of God's substance


Notes and References 9/9/01
You’re made of God’s own substance!

(1) Isa. 43:1 now, 6, 7
1 now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

The first citation this week distinguishes between thee words create and make. We should be very familiar with this distinction. In Genesis we read that God created man from the dust of the ground and made man in His image.

Interestingly enough Mrs. Eddy saw this distinction. Her system of capitalizing synonyms for God makes an exception for the word creator. Creator was originally capitalized in the first edition of Science and Health but in a revised edition she removed the capital C. Why? When you create you start with nothing. When you make something you make from something else. We are made from God’s own image!

When applied to childbirth we assume that life starts when the woman’s egg is fertilized. But, this is not true. Man’s life never began and never will end. Life is immortal. Mrs. Eddy tells us the Jesus’ knowledge of pre-existence made him mighty. Let’s see if we cab uncover such logic in the following story:

John 9:1-7
1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

The Bible was translated from three different languages and most of the original text was a continuous line of capital consonants without punctuation. Consider the following sentences:

GODISNOWHERE

This sentence could read God is now here or God is nowhere.

Here is the 2nd sentence:

A woman without her man is a failure

Punctuated the sentence take on the opposite meaning. A woman! Without her, man is a failure.

These two examples lead us to re-look at the story of the healing of the blind man in the 9th chapter of John. The way the sentence is punctuated it reads that God made the man blind so that Jesus could heal him. That doesn’t make any sense. Let’s try different punctuation. Jesus saw a man blind from his birth (only) and not blind before he was born. His understanding of man’s immortal nature leads to that conclusion. The disciples saw a man born blind. Was always blind, even before his birth.

1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents! But, that the works of God should be made manifest in him, I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day. The night cometh, when no man can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Now the sentence takes on a different meaning, one in which the purpose of Jesus was to do the works of him that sent him. –much more logical and for that matter scientific.

Now let’s see if the same logic can be seen in the story of the wine made from water at the wedding in Cana.

John 2:1-3,5-11
1 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:
2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.
7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.

The wedding party judged man from a mortal standpoint according to standing, wealth, political influence, etc. Jesus starting point could never be material.

(9) 65:3
3 May Christ, Truth, be present at every bridal Blessing
altar to turn the water into wine and to give to of Christ
human life an inspiration by which man's spiritual and
6 eternal existence may be discerned.

The key word in my opinion is the word inspiration. That is our wine from water. It is inspired thought that allows us to see our immortal nature, our original perfection (see reference below.)

My 262
Hence man is the image, idea, or likeness of perfection — an ideal which cannot fall from its inherent unity with divine Love, from its spotless purity and original perfection.

Govern your thinking. Focus on the spiritual ideal (as Jesus did with the blind man). The theme of this class is grand and noble lives. Here is the whole sentence. In it is the process of demonstration your real nature.

S&H 248:6
We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives


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