Mary Baker Eddy includes this question in her textbook on Christian Science healing, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “How can I progress most rapidly in the understanding of Christian Science?” Her answer begins this way: “Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit” (p. 495).
With this in mind during class instruction in Christian Science, our teacher gave assignments for continuous reading of the Bible, Science and Health, and Mary Baker Eddy’s other writings, and advised us to read every word—not to skip passages—and to give prayerful thought to the spirit of what we were reading.
Her instructions about reading the Bible included this advice: “Read all the ‘begats.’ ” That got my attention, because I was familiar with the long passages listing the fathers who begat sons, who begat their own sons, etc., etc., and I thought it would be tempting to skip them. But I knew our teacher was really directing us to read every passage in the Bible carefully and prayerfully.
Man is not the begotten of a long line of human ancestors, but the spiritual offspring of God.
On my first read-through of the Bible, in the second book, Exodus, her advice brought healing.
Exodus includes the account of God giving Moses details for the construction of the tabernacle that would accompany the children of Israel on their journey to the Promised Land. Specific materials, measurements, and colors, the specific names of artisans who could best carry out the workmanship, and instructions for offerings are given (see chaps. 25–31). I was attentive reading it, and saw that the tabernacle introduced something about the concept of Church as we know it today.
But I wasn’t prepared for so much of this same long account to be repeated! In chapters 35–40 Moses conveys the instructions God gave him earlier to the children of Israel, and then their successful carrying out of the work is described in all its detail. It did occur to me to skip the repeated passages, similar to the begats—but instead I placed a bookmark there. I would come back to it.
Shortly, an opportunity came to spend a weekend away for prayer and study, to address a lingering and debilitating loss of appetite I was experiencing. Settling in, I opened the Bible, found my bookmark, and remembered my teacher’s advice to read all the begats. I started reading the tabernacle account again, thinking about what spiritual message all those details could have for me.
I consulted a Bible commentary to better understand the descriptions. It drew my attention to a section about the tabernacle’s three courts and the items and activities in these courts. In the innermost court, the Holy of Holies, the presence of God was thought to dwell.
One of the items described was a laver, a basin of water used for washing before going into the holier places. “Thou shalt also make a laver of brass . . . to wash withal: . . . and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat” (Exodus 30:18, 19). Remembering Mrs. Eddy’s statement in Science and Health, “Like the archpriests of yore, man is free ‘to enter into the holiest,’—the realm of God” (p. 481), I considered what I needed to wash from my own thought in order to feel God’s presence.
On a pad of paper I wrote down what needed to be washed away, a list of things I thought about myself that I didn’t like—a long list. The cleansing part came when I remembered my teacher’s instruction to identify the false claim and immediately reverse it with the truth about man as God’s reflection. I did that. I researched the Bible and Science and Health to find the truth about each item on my long list, and I put the correction as I understood it in Christian Science next to each false claim.
One thing on the list was timidity. Lack of confidence was making things difficult at work. My job required a true confidence, for the good of the services my group was providing, for the good of the employees, and for the development of the vision we had for the work.
Researching this concept, I found that in her Communion Address for 1899 Mrs. Eddy shows how purity of thought naturally supplies courage. She says, “Beloved, that which purifies the affections also strengthens them, removes fear, subdues sin, and endues with divine power; that which refines character at the same time humbles, exalts, and commands a man, and obedience gives him courage, devotion, and attainment” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 131).
I felt the lie of timidity in man, in me, being washed away, and the God-given quality of true confidence taking its place.
Before I was halfway through writing the corrective statements for each false claim, I began to feel a closeness with God. And I realized I was very hungry. My family was staying nearby, so I called them and we went straight to a restaurant and had a memorable meal full of rejoicing. That was the end of a lack of appetite, and other false claims faded as well. At work I began to express a new, soundly based confidence that significantly advanced the role my department played in supporting the firm’s business.
But that was not the end of my reading the Bible and Science and Health over and over. There were less dedicated times with both, but when I was active in my reading, I found that the concept of Church continued to unfold throughout the Bible, and also in our Leader’s textbook.
The traveling tabernacle had furthered the idea of God’s presence going with the children of Israel. Then Jonah articulated the idea of God’s presence being in consciousness when he said, “When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple” (Jonah 2:7). Jesus identified acknowledgment of the Christ as the rock, or foundation, of church (see Matthew 16:13–18). And as the Christian churches were taking shape in congregations in the present-day Middle East and Europe, Paul asked, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (I Corinthians 3:16).
Mrs. Eddy tells us that “the Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick” (Science and Health, p. 583). In the Manual of The Mother Church she established a robust organizational structure through detailed By-Laws. She speaks of these By-Laws’ “simple, scientific basis, and detail so requisite to demonstrate genuine Christian Science” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 148). They give continuity to the elevating and rousing church activity that proves God’s healing omnipresence throughout the world.
More precious than the healing I experienced was the unfolding understanding of Church.
And the “begats”? Near the end of the New Testament, James says, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (James 1:18). Ah, He, God, begat us all. Man is not the begotten of a long line of human ancestors, but the spiritual offspring of God. How important it is, I thought, to read all the begats.
I’m grateful for my teacher’s loving instruction to study the textbooks thoroughly. More precious than the healing I experienced in my first reading of the Bible, the unfolding understanding of Church gave me a deepening love for, and involvement in, The Church of Christ, Scientist. Each role I have served in has demanded and supported growing confidence and courage based on an understanding of God’s presence.
The Bible gives a firm foundation to all who participate in the widening harvest of healing going on through our church. The realization of God’s ever-presence continues to advance.
