ONE of the basic teachings of Christian Science defines the relationship of God and man. The Bible in various places indicates a oneness between God and man, symbolized by the sun and its light. Genesis (1:26, 27) refers to man as the image and likeness of God. Christ Jesus repeatedly spoke of God as his Father and of himself as the Son. He went farther, however, and prayed for his faithful followers (John 17: 11), "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are."
This prayer not only states the significant fact of the oneness of God and man, but also reveals Jesus' perception of the inseparability of all spiritual ideas from each other. The at-one-ment of man with God, Life, Spirit, Mind, compels the conclusion that there is a oneness to all that God creates, the oneness of cause and effect, divine Principle and its idea. Rays of the sun are inseparable from each other for the very reason that they are one with the sun.
The spiritual truth is that God is all-inclusive; that He must be seen as the center and circumference of the universe, including man, as the source of all that really exists. Where His idea is, He is also; and wherever God is, there is His entire expression or creation. This helps to explain how students of Christian Science, conscious of the teachings both of the Scriptures and of the Discoverer and Founder of this Science, Mary Baker Eddy, concerning man's real existence, are often heard to say that they have been comforted in overcoming a sense of separation from loved ones. Through Christian Science they have discerned correctly something of the relationship of man to God and of all His perfect spiritual ideas to each other.
