CHURCH is spiritually defined in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 583), as "the structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle." Church is indispensable to man, for man cannot do without that which proceeds from divine Principle. Church is often referred to as the house of God.
"I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness," sang the Psalmist centuries ago (Ps. 84:10). As doorkeepers in God's house we have to watch that no false concept of Church enters our consciousness.
The Psalmist speaks of "the tents of wickedness." A tent is only a temporary dwelling place. He who allows thought to dwell in wickedness—material thinking—finds it a very impermanent dwelling, the opposite of the house of God, and sooner or later he is forced to abandon it.
