Christian Science reveals God as “the great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence.” This definition is found in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the Christian Science textbook, written by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 587). It makes plain that God is entirely nonphysical, yet infinitely substantial as immortal Spirit, Mind, Truth, Life.
The term mortal God, then, would be a contradiction, since immortal Spirit and mortal matter are clearly opposites. So would mortal man. Since man (and this includes everyone) is the offspring of Life, God, and because like produces like, God’s creations are necessarily spiritual and immortal. In fact, a mortal offspring of immortal God could seem true in belief only. Science and Health insightfully explains it this way: “Mortal man is really a self-contradictory phrase, for man is not mortal, ‘neither indeed can be;’ man is immortal” (pp. 478–479).
It is through probing considerably beyond mortality that we can truly understand the real Life of man. Christ Jesus referred to a supposed mortal life this way: “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it” (Luke 17:33). Commenting on Jesus’ perspective, Science and Health says: “He understood man, whose Life is God, to be immortal, and knew that man has not two lives, one to be destroyed and the other to be made indestructible” (p. 369).
