Abraham's example - a good study for today

When considering where to begin in researching a topic for our blog, there is a wonderful place called JSH-Online (https://jsh.christianscience.com/). Many of our readers know about this treasure-trove already. So, I was wondering what I might find out about the Biblical Abraham if I searched.  As book-clubbers might expect, quite a lot.

1.

One article deepened my appreciation of the qualities of thought expressed by Abraham - including faithfulness, generosity, willingness to move (in thought and body), obedience, kindness, compassion, and above all monotheism. The author also recognizes his "clarity of thought and desire". I love that. See "Abraham the faithful" Christian Science Sentinel Jan 8, 1949 by LUCIA C. COULSON https://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/1949/1/51-2/abraham-the-faithful.

2.

Another article has given me much food for thought. If tells us, in essence, that differences within families (including the family of man) can be healed! The article points out:

"For the children of Abraham— the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael—the time for reconciliation is here. The old sibling rivalries, the posturing for the patriarch's love, the demands for the fairer share of inheritance—both land and ideology—must now begin to recede."  

See Christian Science Sentinel November 18, 2002 "The Family of Abraham" by Marilyn Jones. https://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/2002/11/104-46/the-family-of-abraham

3.

Finally (but there are so many more for the searcher to discover), I was interested in the 

March 4, 1939 Sentinel article "Fidelity", by Thomas G. Watterson, which includes Jesus' response to the learned men of his day: "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham."  https://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/1939/3/41-27/fidelity

Happy searching.

Stand by for news of our July book study. Or write to csredcliffe@hotmail.com with your suggestions!

Julie Swannell

Customary practices

Well. I have opened up a big topic for myself. 

I wondered about circumcision.

In the Biblical book of Genesis, we read that God told Abraham that all his descendants must be circumcised. I had thought only the Jewish people were required to observe this custom. I asked myself, is this also part of the Muslim culture? 

So I looked it up and discovered that it wasn't something new that God told Abraham to do. Arabs (and many other cultures, notably Egyptians) had been doing it for thousands of years, and the practice is said to have come to the "Promised Land" through Moses. 

It is interesting to see some statistics about this (sorry I don't have the reference here): Each year 100,000 Jewish and 10 million Muslim circumcisions are performed. It seems it is a prerequisite of both the Jewish and Muslim religions. (Interestingly though, it is not mentioned in the Koran.)

A titbit of information: The Greek mathematician Pythagoras had to be circumcised before he was allowed to study in the library of the University of Alexandria (the world's oldest documented University). This was long before Christ or Mohammed. Since Greeks did not approve of circumcision it shows how great Pythagoras' thirst for knowledge must have been. (See http://www.circinfo.net/who_in_the_world_gets_circumcised.html.) (Ed. Readers may wish to do their own research on Pythagoras. My brief research suggests that he may indeed have travelled to Egypt, but the reference to "the University of Alexandria" is not corroborated anywhere else.)

Of course, it is from Abraham's son Ishmael (son of Hagar) that the Arabs are said to have descended. Abraham said he was to beget 12 princes (Gen. 17:20); however, God seemed to make Ishmael's people inferior to Isaac's (son of Sarah). I notice that Isaac was named by Abraham before he was conceived and the time of birth was set down by God too - “at this set time next year.”

Joyce Voysey

The bow in the cloud

The “bow in the cloud” (Gen 9:12-17) -- symbol of God's covenant with Noah -- reminds me that Mary Baker Eddy is recorded as having remarked that she saw God's face in the sky. 

The following is an extract from Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer by Yvonne Caché von Fettweis and Robert Townsend Warneck:

Storm dispelled (1907)

On several occasions I saw Mrs. Eddy dispel a storm; the first time was on August 3, 1907, in the late afternoon. The sky was overcast and it was very dark. Mrs. Eddy sat in her chair in the tower corner of her study, watching the clouds with a smile and a rapt expression on her face. She seemed to be seeing beyond the storm, and her present surroundings, and I do not think that she was conscious of my presence. In a few moments the clouds broke and flecked, and the storm was dissolved into its native nothingness. About half an hour later I took her supper tray to her, and she said to me, Ada, did you see the sky?” I replied,”Yes, Mrs. Eddy.” Then she said, “It (meaning the cloud) never was; God's face was never clouded.” This agrees with what another student has recorded as hiving been said by Mrs. Eddy, namely, “When I wanted to dispel a storm, I did not say, 'there is no thunder, and no lightning,' but I said, 'God's face is there, and I do see it.'” (Adelaide Still reminiscences)

How precious is the sky! It gives us a great idea of heaven, it gives us sunlight, it gives us rain, it gives us beauty, it gives us a tiny idea of the Infinite.

When I first attempted to read the Bible through from the beginning, I remember remarking to myself how important it seemed who one chose to marry. I am perhaps still coming to grips with that concept many years later.

In an earlier post, we spoke of Seth being a “goodie.” Now we find that Abraham is a descendant of Seth. The family was in Ur of the Chaldees, on the Euphrates River, down towards its mouth. Terah, Abraham's father, decides to migrate to Haran. God tells Abraham to move to Canaan to receive his blessing. This migration is very interesting to follow on a map. My NKJV has a very fine one.

Abraham was a listener to God. This reminds me of the story of a little girl in a Christian Science Sunday School, from the May 1966 issue of The Christian Science Journal:

IN A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SUNDAY SCHOOL

Mark 5:41, 42

By Helen R. Quitzow

From the May 1966 issue of The Christian Science Journal

---

After her first visit to the Sunday School,
A tiny child said,
"I sat still for a very long time."
That was all.

After a second visit, she said,
"I listened."
And that too was all.

Jesus said to the damsel he called not dead but sleeping:
"Talitha cumi; . . . Damsel, I say unto thee, arise."

"And straightway the damsel arose."

The child in the Sunday School said,
"She must have been listening!"

________________________________

Joyce Voysey

Noah and unlimited space

Genesis

We are hearing about the Great Flood, and Noah, the ark, his family, and all the animals he kept safe in the ark.

Fitting all those animals in the ark has always been a bit of a conumdrum. But, how about changing the things (animals and humans) into thoughts, ideas. There is unlimited space for ideas. They take up less space than all the information on the Internet – and just think how wide-ranging that is.

We read that “Traditions of a great primeval deluge, similar to the one here recorded, exist in the annuls of many nations besides the Hebrews” (Dummelow's Commentary of the Bible).

And it is interesting to get the orthodox church's teaching about Noah's experience. Dummelow says: “This narrative records the judgment of God upon the sinful forefathers of mankind, and His preservation of a righteous family, in whom the divine purposes for men might be carried out. The spiritual teaching of Noah's deliverance has always been recognised by Christians, who see in the ark a symbol of the Church into which they are admitted by baptism, God thereby graciously providing for their deliverance from the wrath and destruction due to sin.”

A Christian Scientist will naturally ask, What does Mrs. Eddy say about the flood and Noah? Not a lot. Most of the “flood” references are to Revelation 12:15, 16, the ones in Pulpit and Press echoing those in the chapter Genesis in Science and Health. However, the Glossary to Science and Health gives definitions of Noah, and his sons, Shem, Japhet, and Ham. These are very telling – sensuality forming part of both the Ham and Shem definitions – Ham being negative and Shem positive, this being a reference to the story of Noah's drunkenness and the sons' compassionate response. See Gen. 9:20-27 which includes Noah's prophesy of their futures.

Joyce Voysey

Abraham, Father of Nations

We know that Abraham is regarded as a sort of father-figure in three great religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It seems there may be some common ground there, let's look at what he represents.

It’s helpful that there are many references to Abraham in both the Old and the New Testaments.

Paul’s letter to the Romans is one example from the New Testament. Chapter four may be a good place to start.

Here, Paul is talking about Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) and here he gives Abraham the title “our first father in the faith” (Message), “humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation” (The Living Bible), “our forefather according to the flesh” (New International Version).

Paul writes to his flock at Rome as follows:

“Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own” (Message).

Then Paul reasons with his readers as to the whys and wherefores of Abraham’s blessing. Was it because he earned it by working hard and being good?  Or rather was it because he put all his trust in God; he believed God’s word?

Furthermore, was this possible only for someone like Abraham, or, as Paul suggests, for anyone – even the non-initiated? Paul examines Abraham’s journey and reasons that Abraham was blessed “before he became a Jew – before he went through the Jewish initiation ceremony of circumcision” (TLB – chapter 4, verse 9).

In verse 12 we now have a new definition for Abraham: “spiritual father” (TLB) or “father of all people who embrace what God does for them while they are still on the “outs” with God, as yet unidentified as God’s, in an “uncircumcised” condition” (Message).

Rom 4:14 (TLB) “So if you still claim that God’s blessings go to those who are “good enough,” then you are saying that God’s promises to those who have faith are meaningless, and faith is foolish.”

Rom 4: 16 (TLB) “God’s blessings are given to us by faith, as a free gift…for Abraham is the father of us all…” or “our faith father” (Message).

This brilliant analysis is pure Paul and we can rejoice in its logic. Petersen (Message) gives:

Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, “It’s hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.” Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up. He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously sceptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong… (verse 19 and on).

Lest we get caught up, though, in a sense of an historical line of generation, the Gospel of John (8:58) lifts us higher as it recounts Jesus’ proclamation that “The absolute truth is that I was in existence before Abraham was ever born!” (TLB); “I am who I am long before Abraham was anything” (Message). This is what the Jewish elders could not comprehend and it made them so angry they hurled rocks at Jesus, who slipped away quietly out of sight (8:59).

Julie Swannell

Names and llfe spans

I continued on with the Chapter Genesis in Science and Health. I think I have taken in a little more of its truths.

Now, back to the remainder of Genesis. I'm reading from my beautiful leather New King James Version.

On reading Gen. 4:26 we are up to Seth in Adam's line and we find that stage “...men began to call on the name of the Lord.” In verses immediately before this we have been hearing about the naming of Cain's offspring. The naming seems to have been very important as representing the character of the man, e.g. Jubal was “The father of all those who play the harp and flute” (4:21).

We have been told that Cain had gone from the presence of the Lord into the land of Nod, so if is refreshing to see that with Seth we have a return to the Lord.

Chapter 5 has a sub-title “The Family of Adam.” Here we see the beginning of the mixture of man created by Spirit (Genesis 1), and man created from dust (Gen. 2). Chapter five gives the genealogy from Adam to Noah. Hundreds and hundreds of years are recorded before we find one who “walked with God” – Enoch. Then, more hundreds of years to Noah, who also “walked with God.”

This passage of years between men who walked with God has me wondering about history in general. Do we have to see hundreds of years between the appearing of men good enough to help humanity get back in touch with the Almighty?

Those men of chapter 5 lived a long time – Methuselah held the record of 782 years. But by Chapter 6, verse 3, 120 years was set for a man's life.

Joyce Voysey

Core values and working together

Dear Book Club readers and participants,

Today we have pleasure in including a Press Release from Annual Meeting of The Mother Church 2017. The thrust of the message is, that we are all God's children, all one family. I love that this ties in with this month's book, Genesis. Sarah may have laughed at God's promise of a family in her old age, but this did not stop its fulfillment (Gen 18 and 21). 

Warmly

Editor

Photo: Members of the Church of Christ, Scientist, gather at their denomination’s headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Headline:  At annual meeting, Christian Scientists see “new spirit” emerging in society

By: Kevin Ness

Dateline:  June 5, 2017

Boston, MA — In today’s culture of political divisions and religious strife, Christian Scientists spoke at their church’s annual meeting of “a new spirit” emerging, which is calling forth the best in people across denominational and national lines.

In an interview, the chair of the denomination’s board of directors, Allison Phinney, pointed to the simplest of signs seen at a nearby Methodist church in Boston’s South End: “God is Love.” “You are Loved.” “Justice.” Said Phinney: “Materialism doesn’t satisfy. It is Spirit, God, that brings us into newness of life, shifting thought, revealing the power of church.”

“Newness of life”—a Biblical expression—was integral to this year’s meeting. The theme, “Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life,” came from the denomination’s textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by church founder Mary Baker Eddy. The meeting took stock of the challenges as well as the promise facing many Christian denominations in this period.

These very challenges have prompted many to look to their core values as people of faith, the board emphasized. In these core values is the power that renews individual lives and revitalizes churches and society as a whole.

There’s an awakening, Phinney said, to the fact that “we have to work together, that it requires the practical Christianity, which Christian Scientists would term healing, so evident in the life and love of Christ Jesus.” It is bringing out “a new spirit of joy and healing at work in our own movement right as communities around the world are searching for deeper answers to human needs.”

The recent launch of a daily digital edition of the 109-year-old Christian Science Monitor is one result of this deeper look at core values. According to church officials, it represents a modest new beginning, focusing less on the number of Internet hits and more on the Monitor’s basic ideal of healing and impartial journalism. “We’re seeing ever stronger demands for just treatment of all the members of human society,” Phinney noted, “and we know it is Spirit, God, the divine influence and energy, that is touching the heart of humanity.”

The new church president introduced at the meeting, Irmela Wigger of Hamburg, Germany, is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher active in the ministry of spiritual healing. Following a tragic incident of violence in her family some years ago, her church family brought her through. “Church is about serving God,” she said, “and from this serving we get a pouring out of Love—God’s love—you can’t imagine.”

According to the church's clerk, Suzanne Riedel, new members joined the church from 29  countries, including Australia, Chile, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Mauritania, Mexico, Portugal, Togo, Uruguay and Zimbabwe, as well as the United Kingdom and United States.  The meeting included reports of healing as well as church progress.

Founded 138 years ago, the Church of Christ, Scientist, is a Christian denomination based on the Bible. The use of the term “Science” refers to what Mary Baker Eddy saw as the spiritual laws of God as understood and demonstrated by Jesus. Members come from all walks of life and backgrounds, including the physical sciences. Said board member Rich Evans, “We don’t equate serious spiritual commitment with ignorance or unreasonable belief.”  The conclusions of the Christian Science founder “were untraditional in some respects, but she thought deeply about the relation between practical Christianity and demonstrated proof of God’s great love for humanity.”

For more information, please contact Kay Stroud, Media and Legislative Advocate for Christian Science in NSW, ACT, QLD and NT, on 0400 494 406 or neaustralia@compub.org

Adventure with Genesis

Book Club June 2017: Genesis

Recently I was alone in our Sunday school well before starting time.  I decided to start on the reading of Genesis.  We have there beautiful new books ready for study – the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (SH).

               As soon as one starts to read from Genesis, one realises that SH has a whole chapter elucidating this first book of the Bible.  So up to Gen. iv. 16 one can read almost all the verses with their spiritual interpretation.  I didn't complete the exercise, of course, but really appreciated the reading that got me started on this adventure with Genesis.

               The Glossary to SH is a mine of good spiritual explanations of words and names from the Bible.  And I have for a long time thought of the initial “Heaven” as “harmony” and “earth” representing “eternity and immortality.” (See Glossary definitions of heaven and earth – S&H 587:25 and 585:5 in part.)

               And so, as I read, I could hear repeated echoes of harmony, eternity and immortality in Science and Health's Genesis chapter.

Joyce Voysey

Whence and why Abraham? (Book for June 2017: Genesis)

Abraham is sometimes referred to a the Father of Nations. Indeed, Jewish, Christian and Muslim worshippers see him thus. Let's re-read the book of Genesis for June 2017 (our book club first looked at it in Sept 2015) and perhaps we will find out more about Abraham and his world.

Happy discovering and uncovering.

Julie Swannell