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Don't Be Confused by "and"

From the February 1976 issue of The Christian Science Journal


"The chief difficulty in conveying the teachings of divine Science accurately to human thought lies in this, that like all other languages, English is inadequate to the expression of spiritual conceptions and propositions, because one is obliged to use material terms in dealing with spiritual ideas."Science and Health, p. 349; In this statement Mrs. Eddy indicates one of the great problems many people have in understanding Christian Science.

One of the most important but most difficult words to understand is the little word "and." Part of Webster's definition reads: "used as a function word to indicate connection or addition esp. of items within the same class or type." In expressing the truths of Christian Science the phrase "God and man" is often used. Yet, uncritically regarded, this can be a misleading statement. A passage in Isaiah ascribes to God this statement: "I am the Lord, and there is none else."Isa. 45:5;

If God is All, there can't be anything else or more of the same. Therefore we must try to understand that God isn't in one spot and man in another. There isn't, in fact, God and man at all in the sense of two separate beings. There is only God knowing His own ideas, reflecting His own thoughts, expressing His own qualities, imaging forth His own likeness. We need to understand that the phrase "God and man" is only a way of conveying to human consciousness the existence of man at one with God, but not identical with Him. In No and Yes Mrs. Eddy writes, "God's law is in three words, 'I am All.'"No and Yes, p. 30;

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