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Wednesday Meeting Readings

October 22, 2008

Topic: Working out the problem of being

  

The Bible:

(1)   Gen 1:31 to first .

31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.  And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

 

(2)   Gen 2:6

6  But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

 

(3)   I John 5:18-20

18  We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

19  And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

20  And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ.  This is the true God, and eternal life.

 

(4)   Ps 34:19

19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

 

(5)   Ps 56:3,4

3  What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

4  In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

 

(6)   Isa 30:20,21

20  And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

21  And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

 

(7)   Job 9:1

1  Then Job answered and said,

 

(8)   Job 10:2,3

2  I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.

3  Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

 

(9)   Job 10:15

15  If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head.  I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

 

(10)   Job 32:2

2  Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.

 

(11)   Job 33:12-17,23-25,29,30

12  Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.

13  Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.

14  For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.

15  In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;

16  Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,

17  That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.

23  If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:

24  Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.

25  His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth:

29  Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man,

30  To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.

 

(12)   Job 36:22

22  Behold, God exalteth by his power: who teacheth like him?

 

(13)   Job 37:14

14  Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.

 

(14)   Job 37:23

23  Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.

 

(15)   Job 38:1-7

1  Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

2  Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

3  Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

4  Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

5  Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

6  Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

7  When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

 

(16)   Job 42:1-3

1  Then Job answered the Lord, and said,

2  I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

3  Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

 

(17)   Job 42:5

5  I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

 

(18)   Job 42:10

10  And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

 

(19)   John 8:31,32

31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

 

(20)   II Cor 12:6-10

6  For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.

7  And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

8  For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

 

(21)   Phil 2:12,13

12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

 

(22)   I Pet 5:10 the

10  the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

 

 

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

by Mary Baker Eddy:

(1)   262:19-23

       Job's thought, when the supposed pain and                         The true

       pleasure of matter cease to predominate. They                    sense

21   will then drop the false estimate of life and happiness, of

       joy and sorrow, and attain the bliss of loving unselfishly,

       working patiently, and conquering all that is unlike God.

 

(2)   460:3-5

 3        Ontology is defined as "the science of the necessary

       constituents and relations of all beings," and it under-

       lies all metaphysical practice.                                               Ontology

                                                                                                    defined

 

(3)   556:25

           Ontology receives less attention than physiology. Why?

       Because mortal mind must waken to spiritual                      Ontology

27   life before it cares to solve the problem of                           versus

       being, hence the author's experience; but when                   physiology

       that awakening comes, existence will be on a new stand-

30   point.

 

(4)   306:32-2

           The parent of all human discord was the Adam-dream,

 1    the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion that life

       and intelligence proceeded from and passed into matter.

 

(5)   72:26-28

                                               A sinning, earthly mortal is

27   not the reality of Life nor the medium through which

       truth passes to earth.

 

(6)   552:16-19

                                                                                                    Emergence

                                   Mortals must emerge from                       of mortals

       this notion of material life as all-in-all. They must peck

18   open their shells with Christian Science, and look outward

       and upward.

 

(7)   347:12-14

12       Critics should consider that the so-called mortal man

       is not the reality of man. Then they would behold the

       signs of Christ's coming.                                                      Essential

                                                                                                    element of

                                                                                                    Christianity

 

(8)   52:19

           The "man of sorrows" best understood the nothing-

       ness of material life and intelligence and the mighty ac-

21   tuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were                    Saviour's

       the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or                         prediction

       Christian Science, which armed him with Love. The high-

24   est earthly representative of God, speaking of human

       ability to reflect divine power, prophetically said to his

       disciples, speaking not for their day only but for all time:

27   "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do

       also;" and "These signs shall follow them that believe."

 

(9)   85:24-30

24                                                                  Jesus knew the

       generation to be wicked and adulterous, seek-                    Hypocrisy

       ing the material more than the spiritual. His                         condemned

27   thrusts at materialism were sharp, but needed. He never

       spared hypocrisy the sternest condemnation. He said:

       "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other

30   undone."

 

(10)   292:27-31

27       This carnal material mentality, misnamed mind, is

       mortal. Therefore man would be annihilated, were it

       not for the spiritual real man's indissoluble                          Immortal

30   connection with his God, which Jesus brought                    man

       to light.

 

(11)   475:13

                                              Man is idea, the image, of

       Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of

15   God, including all right ideas; the generic term for

       all that reflects God's image and likeness; the conscious

       identity of being as found in Science, in which man is

18   the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal;

       that which has no separate mind from God; that which

       has not a single quality underived from Deity; that which

21   possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his

       own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker.

 

(12)   548:12

                                                                                                    The clouds

12   Earth has little light or joy for mortals before                      dissolving

       Life is spiritually learned. Every agony of mortal error

       helps error to destroy error, and so aids the apprehension

15   of immortal Truth. This is the new birth going on

       hourly, by which men may entertain angels, the true

       ideas of God, the spiritual sense of being.

 

(13)   421:18 (to 2nd .)

18             There is no disease.

 

(14)   184:21-23

21                 Mortal mind alone suffers, — not because a law

       of matter has been transgressed, but because a law of this

       so-called mind has been disobeyed.

 

(15)   411:20

           The procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is

21   fear, ignorance, or sin. Disease is always induced by a

       false sense mentally entertained, not destroyed.                  Fear as the

       Disease is an image of thought externalized.                       foundation

24   The mental state is called a material state. Whatever

       is cherished in mortal mind as the physical condition is

       imaged forth on the body.

 

(16)   453:6-8

 6        Right and wrong, truth and error, will be at strife in

       the minds of students, until victory rests on the side of

       invincible truth.                                                                    Winning

                                                                                                    the field

 

(17)   242:15

15       Self-love is more opaque than a solid body. In pa-

       tient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dis-

       solve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant

18   of error, — self-will, self-justification, and self-love, —

       which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin

       and death.

 

(18)   295:16

           The manifestation of God through mortals is as light

       passing through the window-pane. The light and the

18   glass never mingle, but as matter, the glass                          Goodness

       is less opaque than the walls. The mortal                             transparent

       mind through which Truth appears most vividly is that

21   one which has lost much materiality — much error — in

       order to become a better transparency for Truth. Then,

       like a cloud melting into thin vapor, it no longer hides

24   the sun.

 

(19)   329:32-2

           Human resistance to divine Science weakens in pro-

 1    portion as mortals give up error for Truth and the un-

       derstanding of being supersedes mere belief.

 

(20)   28:29

       The trials encountered by prophet, disciple, and apostle,

30   "of whom the world was not worthy," await, in some

       form, every pioneer of truth.

 

(21)   536:26

                               Through toil, struggle, and sor-                    True

27   row, what do mortals attain? They give up                          attainment

       their belief in perishable life and happiness; the mortal

       and material return to dust, and the immortal is reached.

 

(22)   202:15

15       Outside of this Science all is mutable; but immortal

       man, in accord with the divine Principle of his being,

       God, neither sins, suffers, nor dies. The days                      Harmonious

18   of our pilgrimage will multiply instead of di-                      life-work

       minish, when God's kingdom comes on earth; for the

       true way leads to Life instead of to death, and earthly

21   experience discloses the finity of error and the infinite

       capacities of Truth, in which God gives man dominion

       over all the earth.

 

  

From the Christian Science Hymnal:  

Hymns: 347, 7, 55

 

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