How often does the average person think about his or her body in the course of a single day? In today’s society the condition of the body is often thought to be very important to one’s happiness. We wonder: Is it healthy? Is it good-looking? Is it fit?
In my study of Christian Science I’ve learned a spiritual way to think about the body and what it symbolizes. I’ve learned that our thoughts about the body determine our experience with it. In the textbook of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy made this arresting statement: “Divine Science . . . resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 123). So, I’ve asked myself, “What thoughts should I think about my body?”
In the Bible, Jesus used the term “temple” to describe his body (see John 2:19–21). What was he trying to teach us by comparing the body to a temple? What does a temple have to do with our identity?
