Because God is Father-Mother, as Christian Science reveals, everything He creates is characterized by both masculine and feminine qualities. These qualities are altogether mental and refer in Science to spirituality reflected from God rather than to material gender. The writer of the first chapter of Genesis was telling of the completeness of God's man, His likeness, when he wrote, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Gen. 1:27;
Christian Science recognizes the real masculine qualities as wisdom, understanding, strength, justice, power, and the like, and the real feminine qualities as love, peace, purity, tenderness, and countless similar attributes of God. Both types are reflected by the spiritual selfhood of everyone. There is no perfection without them all. As one demonstrates his real self, he finds that he does not add qualities to his character but becomes more and more conscious of his eternally complete, hence perfect, self. Thus the man who coexists with the Father-Mother God is unfolded to humanity.
Lack of either God-created masculine or feminine elements in the human self may prevent spiritual growth and may incite harshness or weakness, stagnation or frivolity. A right balance of qualities belongs to every true concept in God's kingdom, and this needs to be brought out in human experience—in every concept we entertain, in everything we do—if spiritual growth is to take place.
