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