Christian Science teaches that divine Mind, God, is the infinite, all-knowing, ever-conscious cause and creator of all being. Since God is one, All, and infinite, there can logically be only one Mind, and this Mind is actually our real and only Mind right now. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes, “In Science, Mind is one, including noumenon and phenomena, God and His thoughts” (p. 114).
But it’s obvious that in our daily life, one also has to deal with a supposed “opposite” to this real and only Mind. To explain this anomaly, Mrs. Eddy uses the term mortal mind—a term for something that simply doesn’t exist. She explains this clearly where she writes: “Mortal mind is a solecism in language, and involves an improper use of the word mind. As Mind is immortal, the phrase mortal mind implies something untrue and therefore unreal; and as the phrase is used in teaching Christian Science, it is meant to designate that which has no real existence” (Science and Health, p. 114).
The Apostle Paul referred to this suppositional mentality as the “carnal mind,” and told the Romans that this mind was “enmity against God” (Romans 8:7). The truth is, we are required to abandon the false concept of a mind apart from God—and all the traits of character that would identify us with this so-called mind—in order to experience the “new birth” that demonstrates our original spiritual identity as the offspring of God, Spirit, as Jesus explained (see John 3:3).
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