Sunday, May 5th, 2019 Roundtable
The Self Destruction of Sin
This week’s Lesson Sermon Subject: Everlasting Punishment
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Morning Prayers
Oh, may the light that is never dim so encompass you, that no night is there. May His angels hold thee in their power, and Songs of Science be heard in the intuitions of thought, till your life is in tune with the rhythm of God.
— from Divinity Course and General Collectanea, (the “Blue Book”), by Mary Baker Eddy, page 224
We, to-day, in this class-room, are enough to convert the world if we are of one Mind; for then the whole world will feel the influence of this Mind; as when the earth was without form, and Mind spake and form appeared.
— from Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy, page 279: 27-2
Discussion points
305 — WATCH lest, when the argument of sickness assails you, you acknowledge that matter is sick. Mrs. Eddy once said, “A man looks right through a yellow piece of glass. We must learn to see error as an impersonal claim. Remove the yellow glass and John Smith will no longer be yellow.”
Sometimes it is helpful to regard sickness as an indication that one’s spiritual nature, like a lovely flower, is drooping from lack of proper care.
Job’s spiritual nature was like the goose that laid golden eggs. He became so enamoured with the eggs, that he neglected the goose and it drooped from lack of care.
This condition was manifested as sickness and loss. What Job really had was “soul sickness,” since when he once more began to care for his soul, it revived, and he returned to health and prosperity. He stopped looking upon himself as yellow. He learned his lesson, and never again let absorption in effect cause him to neglect cause.
The life of the soul is in spiritual giving. Man’s spiritual nature thrives in pouring out good to others. We care for it properly when we feed it with the bread of Life, and then pour out spiritual blessings to others.
When we sit back selfishly to enjoy the golden eggs furnished us by our spiritual demonstration, we cause our giving to slow up or cease. We neglect cause in order to enjoy effect. It is a fact in Science that spiritual sense will continue to supply us with golden eggs, providing our enjoyment of them does not cause us to value them ahead of their source, so that we neglect to care for source as we should. When we give spiritually as we should, God will always provide the means for giving.
Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.
Take my every thought, to use
In the way that Thou shalt choose.
Take my love; O Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store.
I am Thine, and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.
— Hymn 324 from the Christian Science Hymnal
Golden Text — “To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him.” — Daniel 9 : 9
Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning one’s faith without works to another’s vicarious effort. Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous or that divinity is appeased by human suffering, does not understand God.
Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy cancels the debt only when justice approves.
— Citation 12 from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, page 22 : 3-31
The destruction of sin is the divine method of pardon. Divine Life destroys death, Truth destroys error, and Love destroys hate. Being destroyed, sin needs no other form of forgiveness.
— Citation 8 from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, page 339 : 1 (The)-4
To cause suffering as the result of sin, is the means of destroying sin. Every supposed pleasure in sin will furnish more than its equivalent of pain, until belief in material life and sin is destroyed.
To suppose that God forgives or punishes sin according as His mercy is sought or unsought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer the safety-valve for wrong-doing.
Jesus uncovered and rebuked sin before he cast it out. Of a sick woman he said that Satan had bound her, and to Peter he said, “Thou art an offence unto me.” He came teaching and showing men how to destroy sin, sickness, and death.
— Citation 9 from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, page 6 : 11-14, 18-27
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.
— Psalm 32 : 1, 2, 5 from citation 1 in the Bible portion of this week’s lesson
Forum — whose spirit there is no guile by Lynda from PA
“How should I undertake to demonstrate Christian Science in healing the sick?
Be honest, be true to thyself, and true to others; then it follows thou wilt be strong in God, the eternal good.”
— from Rudimental Divine Scienc by Mary Baker Eddy, page 8
For the Lord is our judge, The Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.” (Isa.33:22)
If the Lord is our lawgiver (and He is), then His law, divine Law, is the only one governing our nation — beneath, above, around, and throughout. This is the only Law that is operating at our borders, in our Senate and House of Representatives, and everywhere. It is a law of Truth uncovering and destroying error, a law of Love uniting and comforting all and destroying hatred and bigotry, a law of Principle supporting and leading our nation, and nullifying any immoral or unethical action.
— by Joanne from FL
Forum post — “Until He Find It” by Parthens
When speaking of God’s children, not the children of men, Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you;” that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God’s image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.
— Citation 2 from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, 476 : 28-5
SPIRIT is the only true conception of being, quite separate from the human concept and always correcting it. Correcting the view is a function of Spirit, and so spiritual clear-sightedness is natural to me, distinguishing all things as they really are.
Through Spirit I see all things rightly, clearly, correctly, distinctly, spiritually. This gives me discernment, so that I differentiate between one idea and another, also between true and false. This firmament of Spirit gives me perception, perceptiveness, perspicacity. It opens the eyes of my understanding. It shows me what is real, and what is unreal.
The clear sight of Spirit does not blind me to faults and errors. Rather I detect them more clearly — but as unrealities. I discern only the good and the true to be real, and so my eye is single. I positively look for the real, the good and the true. In Spirit, good vision is natural, and it is irreversible.
Because Spirit is forever unfolding reality, my vision is daily increasingly clearer. I am glad to see old concepts and false opinions disappear. Spirit brings me new views, the true, new idea, and so brings to birth in my vision the new man.
It is Spirit that does the seeing, not flesh, and the senses of Spirit are indestructible and perfect. My outlook is always positive, never negative, because my vision is spiritual.
— from Some Notes on True Vision, by John L. Morgan, page 2
Forum post — Occupy till I come! by Jeremy from PA
Article — Meekness and Restoration by Florence Roberts
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust,
— 1 Timothy 6: 20