WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
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THE BIBLE
PSALMS
73: 26 … God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
25:21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.
73:3 I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
6 … pride compasseth them about as a chain;
8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
11 And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
37:1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
37:9 … evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.
32:3 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
MATTHEW
6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 ¶No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
COLOSSIANS
2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
GALATIANS
6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
II PETER
2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, …
12 … they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
I KINGS
3:5 In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
6 And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee;
7 And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
9 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;
12 Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.
I TIMOTHY
2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
PHILIPPIANS
4:8 … whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
I CORINTHIANS
2:5 … your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
PSALMS
67:3 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth.
SCIENCE & HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES
BY MARY BAKER EDDY
SH 225:14-16
The history of our country, like all history, illustrates the might of Mind, and shows human power to be proportionate to its embodiment of right thinking.
SH 405:5-9
Christian Science commands man to master the propensities, — to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness, to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with charity, and to overcome deceit with honesty.
SH 453:16 (only), 19-20 a, 16-17 Dishonesty
Honesty is spiritual power.
… a right motive has its reward.
Dishonesty is human weakness, which forfeits divine help.
SH 106:1 the
… the criminal misuse of human will‐power, is to drop from the platform of common manhood into the very mire of iniquity, to work against the free course of honesty and justice, and to push vainly against the current running heavenward.
SH 446:27
The exercise of will brings on a hypnotic state, detrimental to health and integrity of thought. This must therefore be watched and guarded against. Covering iniquity will prevent prosperity and the ultimate triumph of any cause. Ignorance of the error to be eradicated oftentimes subjects you to its abuse.
SH 447:1-5
The heavenly law is broken by trespassing upon man’s individual right of self-government. We have no authority in Christian Science and no moral right to attempt to influence the thoughts of others, except it be to benefit them.
SH 447:6-9 erring
… erring human opinions, conflicting selfish motives, and ignorant attempts to do good may render you incapable of knowing or judging accurately the need of your fellow-men.
SH 448:30-32
To talk the right and live the wrong is foolish deceit, doing one’s self the most harm.
SH 448:10
Evasion of Truth cripples integrity, and casts thee down from the pinnacle.
SH 447:12-14
Ignorance, subtlety, or false charity does not forever conceal error; evil will in time disclose and punish itself.
S&H 239:11-13
The wicked man is not the ruler of his upright neighbor. Let it be understood that success in error is defeat in Truth.
SH 405:17-18
“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
SH 449:7-11
The wrong done another reacts most heavily against one’s self. Right adjusts the balance sooner or later. Think it “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,” than for you to benefit yourself by injuring others.
SH 239:5
Take away wealth, fame, and social organizations, which weigh not one jot in the balance of God, and we get clearer views of Principle. Break up cliques, level wealth with honesty, let worth be judged according to wisdom, and we get better views of humanity.
SH 459:3-8
Paul and John had a clear apprehension that, as mortal man achieves no worldly honors except by sacrifice, so he must gain heavenly riches by forsaking all worldliness. Then he will have nothing in common with the worldling’s affections, motives, and aims.
SH 447:20-22
Expose and denounce the claims of evil and disease in all their forms, but realize no reality in them.
SH 446:24-25
Resisting evil, you overcome it and prove its nothingness.
SH 393:16-18
Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God’s government.
SH 42:19-20
The belief that man has existence or mind separate from God is a dying error.
SH 348:26
I have never supposed the world would immediately witness the full fruitage of Christian Science, or that sin, disease, and death would not be believed for an indefinite time; but this I do aver, that, as a result of teaching Christian Science, ethics and temperance have received an impulse, health has been restored, and longevity increased. If such are the present fruits, what will the harvest be, when this Science is more generally understood?
SH 455:30
The higher your attainment in the Science of mental healing and teaching, the more impossible it will become for you intentionally to influence mankind adverse to its highest hope and achievement.
SH 99:2-12
Human philosophy, ethics, and superstition afford no demonstrable divine Principle by which mortals can escape from sin; yet to escape from sin, is what the Bible demands. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” says the apostle, and he straightway adds: “for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians ii. 12, 13). Truth has furnished the key to the kingdom, and with this key Christian Science has opened the door of the human understanding. None may pick the lock nor enter by some other door.
PUBLICATIONS QUOTATION
“Paying attention to ethics—it’s everybody’s business now”
Cover Article
The Christian Science Sentinel
July 29, 1991
Truth and falsehood—issues of ethics and morality—are at the top of the news these days.
Falsehood, for all its persuasive promises and arguments from “necessity,” puts mankind in a veritable dungeon of limitation.
Environmental polluters, political campaigns devoted to winning by whatever distortion of truth it takes, cheating on taxes, cynicism toward government and apathy toward voting, intractable inaction on social needs that are at the heart of democracy’s promise of equal opportunity—the list of unethical actions and their terribly limiting results is long and growing longer.
Honesty turns out to be a very practical matter. But ethics isn’t so much a matter of what we must somehow force ourselves to do. Ethics in fact is what is written in our hearts.
The truth is that we have the need to act ethically because of the way God has made us to be.
Christian Science powerfully sustains moral and ethical action by its explanation that man is the constant expression of God, Spirit, and not a one-time creation that subsequently went awry. Our true spiritual individuality hasn’t lapsed; it remains the expression of what God is.
The fact is that man is always a great deal more than he appears to be. His real nature and dimension are spiritual. He is the creation of God and his purpose is to express that goodness and love which are the nature of his creator. Man is in reality God’s image and likeness.
This realization is liberating.
We are living in a new time, and we are seeing the leavening effects of a great spiritual discovery. We are learning that God’s man is not by nature a sinner. He is at home with doing right. Because of this, the current concern with ethics is far more than a brief, valiant flare in enveloping darkness. It is more like a prairie fire that can no longer be contained.
“The Ethics Of The Elected”
By Lois Carlson
Christian Science Sentinel
February 23, 2009
The New Testament urges prayer for people in authority. But how do we pray to uphold our elected officials when they are under criminal investigation?
The psalms of King David in the Bible are full of prayers for righteousness. The benefits of obeying wise counsel were clear: “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.”
That word righteousness is intriguing. The Amplified Bible translates it as “uprightness and right standing with God.”
What is so malicious about self-righteousness is that it refuses to honor the relationship between God and others.
When a public official’s moral laxity comes to the surface, and especially when it involves a brazen misuse of power, it’s a time to vigorously uphold the power of the God of truth to clarify and correct. Praying for humanity’s awakening advances the hope of supporting individual redemption, of someone recommitting to his or her talents, and of the individual being a blessing instead of a bane to society.
The Bible offers confidence in matters of public corruption. Instead of indulging the cynicism that agrees to the inevitability of self-interest, the book of Psalms asserts that evildoing will be cut off. Whatever fails to have foundation in truth has no strength to continue. In fact, God, Truth itself, does not tolerate the errors of deceit, greed, and selfishness. Truth actively destroys whatever is unlike good.
The prayer of blessing our public officials includes supporting them as they move through and past their weaknesses, and on to showing forth their God-given goodness.