Ancestry and Adam

The other day I opened the Bible to Zechariah 1:1. It begins by telling us about Zechariah's immediate ancestry – the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet. Then I realised that it is a general practice in the Old Testament to state right at the beginning, the writer's parentage. If we turn to the New Testament, we find really serious ancestry recorded for Jesus in Matthew – from Abraham to Joseph, Mary's husband.

I was fascinated at Luke's placement of Jesus' genealogy. I couldn't find it for a while, but there it is in chapter 3. Luke starts at Jesus and goes back past Abraham all the way to Adam, who he declares was the son of God. (In Christian Science, we might question that.)

I can see a similarity now between the Bible's recording of lineage, and Mrs. Eddy's brief mention of her forebears. She was so in tune with the Scriptures that she would instinctively follow its pattern.

I was satisfied that I had covered all that I wanted to about genealogy, so I turned back to Retrospection and Introspection - the Faith-cure chapter - and there we find the closing words, “the race of Adam” (p. 55:8). 

Mortals are indeed descended from Adam, but note how Science and Health defines that name in its Glossary: “Error; a falsity; the belief in 'original sin', sickness, and death; evil; the opposite of good, – of God and His creation; a curse; ...” p. 579:15). This is the reason mortals need Christian Science: it is the Christ teaching about true manhood. This is the antidote for mortality.

The “platform” in Science and Health (pp. 330-340) gives further instruction on the word Adam. See page 338. It has been my habit when on duty in my church's Reading Room to tune in to the continuous reading of Science and Health on JSH-Online. Last Thursday it was at these numbered paragraphs. The reading is exquisite, the reader being a man with a beautiful English-style accent. Could it be Australian?

Joyce Voysey

Ed. Importantly, Eddy writes (Ret. p. 21:13-15, 25-27) "It is well to know, dear reader, that our material, mortal history is but the record of dreams, not of man's real existence...Mere historic incidents and personal events are frivolous and of no moment, unless they illustrate the ethics of Truth."