Among the fundamental truths we learn through the study of Christian Science is that time is unreal. It is unreal because God's universe is spiritual and His universe is all the universe there is. Matter is temporal. The things of matter have beginning and ending, and they have all kinds of history in between. The things of Spirit, God, are eternal. They have no beginning and no end. Their history is without time—it is the unfolding idea of the infinite, divine Principle, Love.
The Scriptures are an inspired record of the human appearing of spiritual reality. They state, in terms of human events that illustrate dramatically what is real and what is not, the nature of spiritual creation. We can learn more from these Scriptures by subtracting from each of the Bible narratives, and from the Bible as a whole, the element of time. Then we begin to grasp the timeless truths of the Bible that guide us into the demonstration of eternal life.
Invaluable in our study of the Scriptures are the weekly Bible Lessons appearing in the Christian Science Quarterly. These lessons include selections from the Bible and correlative passages from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science. While this textbook has three chapters specifically designated Key to the Scriptures, the entire book correlates with the Scriptures; and Mrs. Eddy herself, in speaking of the Scriptures, referred to this textbook as "the Key" (see Miscellaneous Writings 92:26-30).
