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For to be carnally minded is death…

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Announcements Forums Spirit – August 6th, 2017 For to be carnally minded is death…

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  • #4636
    JPalmer
    Participant

    7. Romans 8
    6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
    7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

    Abridged definitions from the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary:

    Carnal
    1. Pertaining to flesh; fleshly; sensual; opposed to spiritual; as carnal pleasure.
    2. Being in the natural state; unregenerate.

    Enmity
    1. The quality of being an enemy; the opposite of friendship; ill will; hatred; unfriendly dispositions; malevolence. It expresses more than aversion and less than malice, and differs from displeasure in denoting a fixed or rooted hatred, whereas displeasure is more transient.
    2. A state of opposition.

    It is said often here that we can’t be friendly with error, and also that error (aka animal magnetism, mortal mind, carnal mind, etc.) is neither person, place, nor thing. This carnal mind is by definition “opposed to spiritual” and is the enemy of God, having a “fixed or rooted hatred” toward Him. Also, being neither person, place, nor thing, it is disembodied. As such, it is easy to see why Mrs. Eddy told a student, “Error comes to you for life, and you give it all the life it has.”

    I was also struck that part of the meaning of carnal is “unregenerate.” I know the word “regeneration” is mentioned in the Bible, as in this verse from Matthew 19:
    28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory,…

    Again from the 1828 Webster’s:

    Unregenerate
    Not regenerated; not renewed in heart; remaining at enmity with God.

    Regeneration
    1. Reproduction; the act of producing anew.
    2. In theology, new birth by the grace of God; that change by which the will and natural enmity of man to God and his law are subdued, and a principle of supreme love to God and his law, or holy affections, are implanted in the heart.

    This directly led me to 2 Corinthians 5:17:
    “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

    If I close myself off from God by giving power to the carnal mind, I become the old thing that would be passed away, since “For to be carnally minded is death…” If, however, I fight this enemy with all I am learning in Plainfield, then its nothingness is revealed.

    I am continually grateful for how Christian Science is always provable, always makes sense, and never crumbles under scrutiny.

    Thank you for this lesson!

    #4642
    JPalmer
    Participant

    The following is found on pages 110-111 of Watches, Prayers, and Arguments, given by Mary Baker Eddy:

    Materia medica

    There is no power, intelligence or principle, mesmeric or hypnotic, in materia medica, as individual or collective mind. Therefore, it cannot blind nor hypnotize mortals, through human beliefs or will-power, from seeking the true healing, as it is in Christ Jesus and Christian Science.

    There is but one Physician, because there is but one Mind; whose medicine is Truth; which destroys all error; whose attraction is Love, which casteth out all fear. This is the one Mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, and this Mind alone can draw all men unto Him — divine Love.

    Materia medica cannot hide under the guise of hygiene, witchcraft, magic, spiritualism, mind-cure, faith-cure, or any other subtle form of carnality, for to be carnally-minded is death. Man (I) cannot be bewitched or mesmerized by alluring or high sounding phrases or methods, nor by any personality, individual or collective, which substitutes matter and materia medica for the healing power of Truth, Christ. The nothingness and impotence of materia medica is demonstrated through divine Science by its loyal students, who reflect divine intelligence, which destroys any claim of intelligence not in God, good, divine Mind. To enmity’s own hell of ignorance, superstition, hypocrisy and hatred, justice consigns the lie, which would slay man in order to satisfy its own beliefs in materia medica and false theology. God made man immortal and in His image, the image of His own eternity, and to this end gave him dominion over all the earth, over all the works of His hands. This is the Truth of being, and nothing can change the Truth into a lie. Nothing can wrest man out of the Father’s hand, for “It is He who hath made us, and not we ourselves,” and hath given us life everlasting. Therefore, health, harmony and immortality are the everlasting facts of being. It is so.

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Love is the liberator.