Skip to footer

Answers sought in Spirit

A Christian Science perspective: Our questions are answered.

  • By Kari Mashos

Expecting spirits to appear at certain times of the year is celebrated in many cultures. This is how the holiday of Halloween was started. On these occasions some seek to call on the advice of people who are no longer present. While the advice might be sought in earnest, these attempts at communication are based on human belief and mysticism, and can yield no real results. Ghosts have long been considered the result of fear-based hallucinations or optical illusions. They are imaginary, and by their very nature, they cannot be a source for reliable counsel.

No matter the place or the time of year, there is a source for counsel we can always depend on – the absolute source of all wisdom and truth. In Christian Science, Truth is another name for God – the one Spirit. This definition of God is rooted in the Bible: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). It is in a spiritual rather than ritualistic worship of God – a purification of the heart and an understanding of Truth – that we are able to hear God’s guidance.

God’s guidance is given to all of His children. As described in the first chapter of Genesis, we are each made in the image and likeness of God, Spirit. Our true identity is as children of the one Spirit – good and holy. We not only express His eternal nature but have within us the ability to reflect wisdom.

The Bible shows many examples of people finding help in this limitless resource – the wisdom of Spirit. The prophet Isaiah saw the importance of looking only to God for direction and healing when he said: “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God?” (Isaiah 8:19). Following Isaiah’s instruction, we look to infinite good, God, and see that the goodness of God is present and powerful to help us in every need.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, understood how God directs us: “Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 505). And elsewhere in Science and Health she explains what divine Spirit does for us: “Spirit blesses man, but man cannot ‘tell whence it cometh.’ By it the sick are healed, the sorrowing are comforted, and the sinning are reformed. These are the effects of one universal God, the invisible good dwelling in eternal Science” (p. 78).

We have the consummate example of Christ Jesus, who proved the blessings of the invisible good, God. It was through the power of the divine Spirit that he was able to heal. He taught us to look to “Our Father which art in heaven” for answers (Matthew 6:9). As we do, we will not be found wanting; the infinite Spirit is eternally near us, willing and able to guide us every moment.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Enjoying this content?
Explore the power of gratitude with the Thanksgiving Bible Lesson – free online through December 31, 2024. Available in English, French, German, Spanish, and (new this year) Portuguese.
Read the Thanksgiving Lesson
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Answers sought in Spirit
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2014/1027/Answers-sought-in-Spirit
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe