What, is man's true heritage? What does he inherit from his infinite Parent—God, divine Spirit? Early in the Bible we learn that God made man in His image and likeness and that He gave man dominion over all that He had made. God's creation is all good. Consequently all that man inherits is good.
Although this fundamental spiritual truth is not readily apparent to material perceptions of life, the more our prayer and spiritual sense lead us to divine reality, the more we'll begin to see and experience God's goodness.
Let's seek and find more of our true and
eternal nature, and discover our real Parent—
our infinite Father-Mother God.
Spiritual sense also leads us to another inescapable conclusion: matter is not an aspect of God's creation. Neither is fear, ignorance, sin, disease, or death. No evil or error can be found in God's kingdom, where man forever dwells. Good is supreme.
In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy makes this radical declaration: "Heredity is not a law." Science and Health, p. 178 She also points out, "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." Ibid., p. 228
Heredity has long troubled or interested humans. We might hear someone say, when referring to a parental relationship, "Like father, like son." This innocent contention, accepted generally by humanity, may have its effect in one's appearance, actions, intellectual standards, or traits of character. And it would seem that if one believed such a contention to be true, it could also become a baneful influence in one's life. But is mortal, material heredity an intelligent force? Certainly it is not a law of God, good, and there is truly no other law or power but His.
In the Old Testament, Ezekiel represents God as asking, "What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?" God then declares, "As I live ... ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel." Ezek. 18:2, 3
Cannot this godly command be applied to hereditary beliefs? It is commonly accepted by many people that certain types of disease and sinful habits can be attributed to supposed hereditary forces. Should we not, in obedience to God, do all that we can to decline to honor such beliefs in our lives?
In order to master false concepts of inheritance, we should begin with a clear understanding of God as our true and only source of being. As God's image and likeness, man actually has only that which is of God. It is important to turn away from the false claim that we are mortal and material. Christian Science makes it clear that man is God-made and that what God has given to man is infinite and perfect. We all have a divine right to understand and to claim our God-provided inheritance.
As we grow spiritually, we realize more and more fully the fact that our only inheritance is of God, Spirit, and therefore is eternal. Science and Health states, "The Scientist knows that there can be no hereditary disease, since matter is not intelligent and cannot transmit good or evil intelligence to man, and God, the only Mind, does not produce pain in matter." Science and Health, pp. 412-413
Earthly experience seems rather solidly related to that which has gone on before. We innocently accept as a fact that we have come into the world by being born of material parents, and that we will go out the way our parents have gone or are destined to go at some uncertain future time. Does man's heritage actually involve a process of birth and death? Does God's law involve "vital statistics"? In God's creation there is neither birth nor death. Man's being is spiritual and eternal. Even though we may have accepted life as temporary, that is not the fact in God's creation. Material hereditary laws are not included in God's universe. They are mortal inventions, and we can progressively prove their unsubstantial nature in our lives.
We can observe around us indications of victory over hereditary beliefs. Whenever one's life is extended as a result of spiritual growth, the historic belief in death is, to that extent, vanquished. The Bible makes it clear that death is an enemy. By carrying on usefully for one hundred and twenty years, Moses exhibited, in a measure, mankind's right to banish thoughts of the cessation of useful activity. He did not accept the beliefs of either early or late retirement. And neither should we. Christ Jesus declared, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." John 8:51 We should never give in to the claim that because our forebears ceased activity at a certain time we must also do so.
Heredity asserts that human beings include certain ancestral traits. This theory is based upon the false assumption that our lives are matter-bound. Let's seek and find more of our true and eternal nature, and discover our real Parent—our infinite Father-Mother God, whom the Bible declares to be Life, Truth, and Love.
God is All-in-all. He is the cause of all real being. He is, then, the only source or basis of our being. We inherit of Him all good. In Him there is no matter, evil, sin, disease, discord, or death.
As we claim our inseparability from God— our fullness in Him—we begin to realize that there are no hereditary conditions operating in our lives. As we pray earnestly, we become increasingly conscious of the spiritual fact that God is our Life—that we live, move, and have our being in God, divine Life, and that we inherit all good from Him.
Since God, divine Life, is the sole source of our being, there is no possibility of any erroneous occurrence within our spiritual environment. A clear comprehension of our inseparability from God acts as a barrier to the entry into our experience of any foul intruders. Finding ourselves within the secret place of God, the Most High, we learn that God's man is exempt from the debilitating claims of mortality.
In Truth man was never born. He lives forever in God. Man, then, is subject only to the loving, pure, intelligent, life-giving laws of God. As His idea, man is immune from all discords and diseases, and this immunity is demonstrable in our individual lives as we gain a clear spiritual understanding of the God-made and God-supported nature of each of God's children.
The theoretical belief of inheritance from the past, with consequent troubles for the present and future, is canceled in proportion as we clearly establish our true relationship, inseparable from God, who is the Life of all His creation. It is essential for us to awake to the truth: "Heredity is not a law." Our real and only heritage is from God, in whose kingdom we all truly dwell in complete happiness, safety, freedom, and health.
Ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood,
an holy nation, a peculiar people;
that ye should shew forth
the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvellous light.
I Peter 2:9
