The clock and the calendar are necessary for order in human affairs. It is likewise necessary, at times, to refer to what may have occurred many years ago or to what is likely to take place some time hence. Yet these so-called necessities should have no bearing on our realization of true being and our recognition of life as eternal. What we need to maintain is a proper sense of proportion. Extremes are generally impractical; therefore they are to be avoided. Reluctance to refer to the passing of time or years in commonplace matters is apt to be the outcome of fear; and the very disinclination implies a belief that time, as such, has some sort of power or influence on life.
The student of Christian Science knows that true being is not governed by the clock or the calendar and that it never has been. Because they appear to be present in the flesh, mankind believe in a material creation and also believe that man is a human being, subject to ills of the flesh, which include sin, sickness, and death. In other words, they believe in a power separate and distinct from God. Yet the Scriptures imply that God, good, is Life and that Life is omnipotent, omnipresent, and eternal.
As Christian Scientists we accept the Scriptures as declaring the facts of creation in the first chapter of the book of Genesis. Therefore we accept the Scriptures as our guide to the actual facts of life. We cannot think of creation without thinking in terms of God as Life; yet for centuries this fundamental truth that God is the Life of all being was lost sight of. Furthermore, mankind ascribe to themselves a materially-conceived process of reproduction which, by the very nature of its falsity, involves decay and dissolution. Startling, indeed, must have been the words of the great teacher of spiritual being, Christ Jesus, when he announced to the Jews who challenged his mission (John 8:51), "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death."
