No separation

A few years ago the movie Oh, Godm with George Burns and John Denver played in theaters in the United States. It was a pleasant little vehicle; a comedy by design.

When I saw the movie, however, the audience I was in seemed oddly quiet, even subdued. There was some chuckling at appropriate moments. But generally, I sensed almost a feeling of reverence.

I thought about that atmosphere for quite a while afterward. Any time people consider God -- even, if would appear, if only while watching a simplistic movie -- they can be touched with something of the glory and grace of Deity.

Mortals deeply crave a knowledge of God; even a filmic account that presents Him as real and caring can exert a powerful attraction. Yet God, "the creator of the ends of the earth, n1 as the Bible calls Him, still seems remote to many humans. Why? Couldn't it be at least partly because people commonly regard themselves as material offspring of God, while He, the Father, is regarded as Spirit?

n1 Isaiah 40:28

By viewing Parent and child a completely different in substance -- Spirit and matter being irreconcilably opposite -- an unbridgeable gulf is created, and mankind feel loneliness and the pain of separation from the divine source.

But the Christian Science textbook explains that God, Spirit, is also Mind, and man is His reflection, hence spiritual. The author of this textbook, Mary Baker Eddy, n2 explains, in answer to the question "What is man?" that che is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas; . . . " n3 Therefore since man is acautlly ideational, he includes no element of materiality; and as God's own idea he can never be separated from this creative Mind, in whom "we live, and move, and have our being." n4 The belief that man could be a mortal, separated from Principle, or God, is put forward by a counterfeit consciousness that in Science is called mortal mind.

n2 Mrs. Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science;

n3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m p. 475;

n4 Acts 17:28

In Oh, God,m God, played by George Burns, confides to John Denver that He made some mistakes in creating the world, which He plans to rectify; Denver will be a sort of Moses/Jesus figure to tell humanity of God's love for them and of His intention to help them. Far from being merely a harmless comedic premise, the belief of a flawed creation including imperfect man is almost universally held. But the Science of Christianity is the Comforter promised by Jesus, and it reveals the perfection of God's creation. Science and Healthm states: "Omnipotent and infinite Mind made all and includes all. This Mind does not make mistakes and subsequently correct them. God does not cause man to sin, to be sick, or to die." n5

n5 Science and Health,m p.206

One of the most insistent, aggressive suggestions of the belief in a good/evil material creation can be put in that one word: separation. Implied by this error is man's separation from Life, Truth, and Love -- in short, from God, who is omnipotent good. Such a division claims we are separated from, or lack, consistent health, justice, and intelligence. But he reverse is true. We are each as close to God as . . . as His own thoughts! Our sincere acceptance that God is our Mind, and our daily living of the implications of that truth, produce Christian demonstrtion -- progressive dominion over sickness and sin. Specific instructions for healing are found in the Christian Science textbook; testimonies of health restored are regularly published in the Christian Science periodicals. Scientific mental healings are tangible proofs in our lives of God's perfection and omnipresence. The wonderful part is that everyone has the ability to seek and find God in this way.

In that movie theater I sensed the profound longing mankind feels for God, and was stirred gratefully to remember that "we love him, because he first loved us." n6

n6 I John 4:19.

DAILY BIBLE VERSE Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Romans 8:35