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Date:         Fri, 10 Apr 1992 12:27:32 EDT
From:         Leo W <Leo_W@QM.CIRCA.UFL.EDU>
Subject:      Re>Do we exist?
X-To:         Christia <christia@asuvm.inre.asu.edu>

Jeff Sinatra wrote: "There is not one element of physicallity in Love, in
Spirit, God."

All true Christians would agree that God in His Absolute Infinite Spirit
Essence is beyond our senses and transcends our universe.

"Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape" (John 5:37).

"The light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see"
(1 Timothy 6:16).

Jeff wrote: "The image and likeness of Spirit, or God, is spiritual and
immortal, not material and mortal ... Genesis 2:7 ... contradiction of
the original text (Gen 1:27)."

Christ, the Word, is this image of God (Colossians 1:15,16), but not Man
(Adam).  Man was created as a figure of Him (Christ) Who was to come in the
flesh (Romans 5:14).  Figures, shadows, types, are all material.

Listen to the Apostle Paul, who wrote most of the books of the New Testament,
was commissioned by the ascended Christ Jesus, and worked many signs and
wonders:

"The first man Adam was made a living soul
 the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural;
 and afterward that which is spiritual.

 The first man is of the earth, earthy;
 the second man is the Lord from heaven.

 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and
 as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

 And as we have borne the image of the earthy,
 we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

 ... we shall all be changed ... the dead shall be raised ... we shall be
 changed.

 For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
 and this mortal must put on immortality"  (1 Corinthians 15 excerpts).

Jeff wrote: "The account in Genesis 2:7 teaches us the nature of error--"...ye
shall be as gods....""

The first lie recorded in the Bible from the lips of Satan:  "Ye shall not
surely die ... ye shall be as gods (*Elohim*)" (Gen. 3:4,5).  This liar
contradicts Genesis 2:7 and 2:17.  Is his lie in harmony with Genesis 1:27, or
is his lie error?  Is MBE's religion in harmony with Satan's lie, or with
Moses' Genesis 2:7,17 and 1:27 and Paul's 1 Corinthians 15?

Jeff wrote: "Genesis 1:27 teaches us of the nature of reality, the nature of
our true identity as taught and demonstrated by Christ Jesus--"...and let them
have dominion...""

Let's finish the quotation, "and let them have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon
the earth" (Gen. 1:28).  Notice how this parallels God's statement to Noah in
Gen. 9:1,2: "... every beast of the earth ... every fowl of the air ... all
that moveth upon the earth ... all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are
they delivered."  As for seeing the nature of our true identity, seeing how the
Hebrew word for "soul" (nephesh) is used in Genesis chapter one is instructive
as well.

Jeff wrote: "It should also be noted that many Bible Scholars agree that there
are two seprarate accounts in Genesis (the Elhoistic and the Jehovistic) some
of which argue that there are actually two different authors.  Perhaps you
should do a little more research in this area, for I know it is not a subject
that many people have studied."

Indeed, even Christ Jesus Himself was unaware of this Truth when referring to
the Hebrew canon of the Scriptures in His teachings.  Perhaps someone should
have notified Him so we would not be misled by His references to Mose's books
and then could be free to embrace MBE as our Leader:

"Had ye *believed Moses*, ye would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me.  But
if ye believe not *his writings*, how shall ye believe My words?" (John
5:46,47).

"Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?
And beginning at *Moses* and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all
*the Scriptures* the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:26,27).

"These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all
things must be fulfilled, which were *written in the law of Moses*, and in the
Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me (Luke 24:44).

Jeff wrote: "I had a hard time with your statement about, Mary Baker Eddy
calling most of the Bible error--I thought you were reading "Science and
Health"?  Mrs. Eddy discovered CS through what she learned from the Bible."

That is MBE's claim as stated in "Science and Health."  In "Science and Health"
she states that Jehovah/Yahweh is not God, but a tribal false deity.  This God
permeates the Old Testament and is the subject of the Old Testament revelation,
the majority of the Bible.  The New Testament further identifies Christ Jesus
as the incarnate Jehovah/Yahweh.  Therefore MBE has discarded the bulk of the
revelation of God and Christ in the Bible as error.

Jeff wrote: "And when she articulated what she learned in "Science and Health,"
she used over 600 scriptural references to support this discovery."

I saw only a handful of verses quoted many times (except in "Key to the
Scriptures").  Oftentimes they were quoted out of context in order for her to
allegorize or press her religion into them.  I did not see anywhere near the
number you claim, even including "Key to the Scriptures."

Jeff wrote: "What's more, she proved the validity of Christian Science, even
the omnipotence of God's ever present help, through healing the sick,
transforming the sinner, raising the dead, ect.--by repeating the works of
Christ Jesus' earliest followers."

In "Science and Health," MBE never once claims to have raised the dead or
cleansed a leper.  She carefully states that she has "raised the dying," that
is, those not yet dead.  Never is a leper cleansed in "Science and Health"
either.  These works of Christ are impossible to imitate by natural healing
techniques, including mental healing.

Jeff wrote: "I think one would have a difficult time finding any other religion
today that more closely represents the earliest Christians, than that of
Christian Science--that comes closer to imitating the Christian Religion that
transformed peoples lives and healed the sick almost 2000 years ago."

"If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead" (Christ in Luke 16:31).

Yours in Christ Jesus,
Leo
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