God is not contradicted

This week’s Christian Science Bible Lesson, titled “Adam and Fallen Man,” focuses on a fact not only primary to understanding the Bible, but vital to grasping our true spiritual nature: The story of creation in Genesis is not one continuous account.

The first chapter of Genesis tells about the true creation, in which all is entirely good, and man is made in God’s image and likeness.

The Adam and Eve story that follows in subsequent chapters is a teaching allegory that illustrates how things are likely to go if we accept that God’s reflection could somehow get separated from God and fall to the level of a mortal sinner. In these contrasting accounts, the Bible prepares our thought to relinquish the false material view of God and man, and accept the spiritual and true view found in the teachings and healing works of Christ Jesus.

Study of these weekly Bible Lessons is an individual experience, but, to me, the thread running through this Lesson is the importance of distinguishing between spiritual truths and their mortal contradictions. A fact has to be established already before there is anything to contradict. Thus, the contradiction, coming after the fact, is always too late to be real.

Just as Chapter 1 of Genesis precludes the actuality of its contradiction in the Adam and Eve story, the spiritual qualities you and I represent preclude the possibility of our being mortal sinners! This is clarified in a passage from Science and Health: “Anybody, who is able to perceive the incongruity between God’s idea and poor humanity, ought to be able to discern the distinction (made by Christian Science) between God’s man, made in His image, and the sinning race of Adam” (p. 345, citation 16).

Sections IV through IX in this Lesson discuss the so-called “seven deadly sins,” showing how each is precluded by its preexisting virtue. Chastity precludes lust. Diligence precludes sloth. Humility precludes pride. Temperance precludes gluttony. Patience precludes wrath. Kindness precludes envy. Charity precludes greed. So, it is in expressing these virtues that we discover we are not of the Adamic race but are God’s likeness, and can live as such.

The seven deadly sins, though not listed specifically as such in the Bible, were drawn from various Scriptural verses and listed by the early Christian Church. The list fluctuated a bit until it finally settled into the traditional seven most objectionable vices of so-called “fallen man.” The closest one comes to a listing in the Bible of these seven temptations is in a passage from Proverbs quoted in the Responsive Reading this week: “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren” (6:16–19).

This is not the same list that the individual sections of this Lesson portray. Yet if one looks closer, it’s significant how similar the two lists are. A “proud look” could be pride. “Wicked imaginations” could be lust. “Hands that shed innocent blood” describe anger. “He that soweth discord” could indicate envy. “A false witness that speaketh lies” and “feet that be swift in running to mischief” could signify greed.

In my research, I found these definitions to be helpful: (1) Lust is excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature that lead one’s focus away from God into the depths of mortality. (2) Sloth is the avoidance of physical and spiritual work—a failure to utilize one’s talents to God’s glory. (3) Pride is excessive belief in one’s own abilities, causing one to feel one doesn’t need God. (4) Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than is required. (5) Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. (6) Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. (7) Envy is the desire for others’ traits, status, abilities, or situation. The envious resent others because they see themselves as lacking their good, and try to deprive others to enrich themselves.

These are certainly not qualities that belong to God’s children! But “Christian Science separates error from truth, and breathes through the sacred pages the spiritual sense of life, substance, and intelligence. In this Science, we discover man in the image and likeness of God. We see that man has never lost his spiritual estate and his eternal harmony” (Science and Health, p. 548, cit. 29).

Contributing editor Patricia Hyatt is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher. She lives in Lexington, South Carolina.

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