the same thing?

[jacodebr7545ba]

Body and Soul. Can they be two different subjects? Even after thirty years studying and grappling with Christian Science, it can seem confusing at times. Florence read from the Blue Book, page 222, and my eyes caught this statement on the same Page. Quote: “…. the treatment should go far enough to destroy, or uncover, the belief in the reality of sexuality and the existence of material creative organs.”

Eustace indicates that we are conscious of corporeal organs because of commmunion with God. For instance he wrote: “…is the action of the stomach or liver something apart from Mind? You are conscious of it through communion with Mind.”

From some of the things Mary Baker Eddy wrote I understand that she condemns sexual feelings and actions. When I was about 12 years of age, I asked my elder sister in disbelief: “Do people do that too?” referring to dogs doing their thing in the street. And she had to answer affirmative. Of cause a few years later I experienced all those confusing and undefined feelings too, falling in love with a girl at school, a mixture of emotions like a deep need for human affection and physical feelings.

Apart from the negatives of uncontrolled population growth, and all the evil and nastiness related to sexuality, I also see the positives of marriage, a tender loving relation, a warm embrace, and least but not last the joy and beauty of children. Time for thinkers. The self-renunciation of all that constitutes a so-called material man…..lose sight of material selfhood… In the absolute we are never born nor ever die. For many years I have puzzled for instance with this statement on page 418 of Science and Health: “…the conquest over sickness, as well as over sin, depends om mentally destroying all belief in material pleasure and pain.”
I guess the clue is the word material. Nothing can ever be material. All must be Soul, even what we call body. I would like to hear what others think. These things cannot be controlled by mere human willpower, as we have witnessed from issues in the Catholic Church.

[chardelle]

These are important topics to consider and not to be ignored. At last we we will be neither male or female, but for now like eating and drinking we can do our best to be normal and healthy without over doing or over thinking. If we glorify God in our bodies and in our souls we can be loving and tender in our sexual relationship with a chosen mate and share a life together. Mrs. Eddy also talks about marriage as bringing completeness. “Union of the masculine and feminine qualities constitutes completeness. The masculine mind reaches a higher tone through certain elements of the Mental feminine, while the feminine mind gains courage and strength through masculine qualities. These different elements conjoin naturally with each other, and their true harmony is in spiritual oneness.” Chapter 3 — Marriage in Science and Health, page 57

[JPalmer]

Thank you for these posts!

Early on in my time at this Church, I read:

Every sexual emotion is a conspiracy against Science.
from Watches, Prayers, and Arguments, given by Mary Baker Eddy, page 130

It took a while to understand, but the following answered it pretty succinctly:

Did God at first create one man unaided, — that is, Adam, — but afterwards require the union of the two sexes in order to create the rest of the human family? No! God makes and governs all.
from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 532

Therefore, any mortal mind counterfeit that tells us we are separate from God is a lie which must be exposed and destroyed, so we can get back to our conscious oneness with God.

But Mrs. Eddy married again after discovering Christian Science, and has the chapter on Marriage, so I wondered about that for a while. Is it a “suffer it to be so now” situation? Or can it be a good thing? Then I found these two quotes and feel more at peace with it.

The tendency of the desire for the sweet companionship of the opposite sex is divinely natural. Remember primarily the individual was equal and wholly satisfied. He was God’s image and reflection, Father-Mother. Learn not to condemn this longing, because it is about the only thing in a human being that indicates his divine entity. In the beginning man and woman were one, and mortal mind made the separation. Therefore the constant longing for completion.
from Fragments gathered from Unpublished Items ascribed to Mary Baker Eddy, page 181

What do you think of marriage?
That it is often convenient, sometimes pleasant, and occasionally a love affair. Marriage is susceptible of many definitions. It sometimes presents the most wretched condition of human existence. To be normal, it must be a union of the affections that tends to lift mortals higher.
from Miscellaneous Writing, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 52

Mrs. Eddy also wrote:

The sexual element is not natural, if nature is God, and it certainly is God, for matter is not God, and material sense has no law and no gospel on its side.
from Watches, Prayers, and Arguments, given by Mary Baker Eddy, page 170

To me it seems: Human “love” pulls us down to materiality; divine Love lifts us up spiritually.

[Florence]

Thank you Jacob for your post and thanks for how you wrote about it. Many have questions; Others wonder the same….Grateful for all responses.

As I understand it Mrs. Eddy is not condemning sexuality but says it is one of the things that fall away as we gain the reality of our spirituality. I understood that the need to seek (completion, satisfaction)in another fades away once we become aware that we are already the reflection of both male and female qualities. Eating and drinking is referenced above; all materiality will yield as we progress spirit-ward. The beautiful qualities of joy, love, are here forever.
SH 64:17-25 in this Jesus declared that in the resurrection there should be no more marrying nor giving in marriage but man would be as the angels. Matthew 22 and Luke 20 both reference this. On pg. 509 of SH God forms and peoples the universe….what does that say about human procreation? Man will awaken from the Adam dream of materiality and no longer be dominated by it.

[jacodebr7545ba]

We are on our way to something ever better and closer to God, where Love is All-in-all, and there is nothing else. Thank you all for the responses, I have no one to talk to about the metaphysics of divine Science, and mortal mind is all around and aggressive. Human love is foretaste of eternity.

[Author]

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