Christ Jesus brought to the world the glorious revelation of the fatherhood of God, thus showing the tender relationship of God to man. The fact of man's sonship with God as the perfect reflection of the perfect Father was the basis of Jesus' mighty works of healing the sick and sinful and raising the dead.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, proclaimed the idea of the motherhood of God. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," commenting on the verse from the vision of St. John in Revelation (12:1), "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars," our Leader writes (p. 562), "As Elias presented the idea of the fatherhood of God, which Jesus afterwards manifested, so the Revelator completed this figure with woman, typifying the spiritual idea of God's motherhood." Motherhood presents the highest concept of God as Love: unchanging Love, which does not cause sin, sickness, and death; compassionate Love, which always heals. Sweet memories are associated with a mother's comfort when childhood's disappointments, fears, and tragedies seemed overwhelming. The average child recognizes the comfort of his mother's love and turns to her in time of trouble, confident that all will be well. The motherhood of divine Love is constant, lovingly enfolding each and all of its children in perfect harmony and joy.
Belief in human parentage is the source of many sorrows and ills for humanity. Material theories of heredity burden mankind with fears of inherited diseases, moral weakness, or poverty. In Science and Health we read (p. 228), "Heredity is a prolific subject for mortal belief to pin theories upon; but if we learn that nothing is real but the right, we shall have no dangerous inheritances, and fleshly ills will disappear." Many healings in Christian Science occur when thought is lifted above the contemplation of human parentage to the spiritual fact of the fatherhood and motherhood of God.
