WEDNESDAY EVENING READINGS FEBRUARY 29, 2012 “THE TRUTH ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL”
FROM THE BIBLE:
PSALMS
139:1 O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. 7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 86:11 Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: 119:34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. 9:15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: 16 … the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. 86:12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
PROVERBS
15:9 The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness. 10 Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: 24 The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath. 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.
18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. 19 Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. 18:10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
MATTHEW
27:1 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: 2 And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
3 ¶Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
PHILIPPIANS
3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
II PETER
1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 3:13 … we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
REVELATION
21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
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27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
LUKE
17:20 The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 … behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
SCIENCE & HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES BY MARY BAKER EDDY
SH 587:25 HEAVEN. Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul.
SH 588:1 HELL. Mortal belief; error; lust; remorse; hatred; revenge; sin; sickness; death; suffering and self-destruction; self-imposed agony; effects of sin; that which “worketh abomination or maketh a lie.”
SH 291:13
Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal, because sin is not there and man is found having no righteousness of his own, but in possession of “the mind of the Lord,” as the Scripture says.
SH 266:20-21, 25-27
The sinner makes his own hell by doing evil, and the saint his own heaven by doing right. Perfect and infinite Mind enthroned is heaven. The evil beliefs which originate in mortals are hell.
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SH 330:25
The notion that both evil and good are real is a delusion of material sense, which Science annihilates. Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power. As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie, nothing claiming to be something, — for lust, dishonesty, selfishness, envy, hypocrisy, slander, hate, theft, adultery, murder, dementia, insanity, inanity, devil, hell, with all the etceteras that word includes.
SH 196:18
Sin makes its own hell, and goodness its own heaven.
SH 497:9
We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.
SH 339:1-4
The destruction of sin is the divine method of pardon. Divine Life destroys death, Truth destroys error, and Love destroys hate. Being destroyed, sin needs no other form of forgiveness.
SH 6:14-22
To reach heaven, the harmony of being, we must understand the divine Principle of being. “God is Love.” More than this we cannot ask, higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go. To suppose that God forgives or punishes sin according as His mercy is sought or unsought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer the safety- valve for wrong-doing.
SH 36:1-4
They, who know not purity and affection by experience, can never find bliss in the blessed company of Truth and Love simply through translation into another sphere.
SH 36:21
It is quite as impossible for sinners to receive their full punishment this side of the grave as for this world to bestow on the righteous their full reward. It is useless to suppose that the wicked can gloat over their offences to the last moment and then be suddenly pardoned and pushed into heaven, or that the hand of Love is satisfied with giving us only toil, sacrifice, cross-bearing, multiplied trials, and mockery of our motives in return for our efforts at well doing.
SH 536:1
In the Apocalypse it is written: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” In St. John’s vision, heaven and earth stand for spiritual ideas, and the sea, as a symbol of tempest-tossed human concepts advancing and receding, is
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represented as having passed away. The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness.
SH 242:9
There is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ in divine Science shows us this way. It is to know no other reality — to have no other consciousness of life — than good, God and His reflection, and to rise superior to the so-called pain and pleasure of the senses.
SH 264:28
When we learn the way in Christian Science and recognize man’s spiritual being, we shall behold and understand God’s creation, — all the glories of earth and heaven and man.
SH 372:14-17
When man demonstrates Christian Science absolutely, he will be perfect. He can neither sin, suffer, be subject to matter, nor disobey the law of God. Therefore he will be as the angels in heaven.
SH 590:1
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. The reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme.
SH 560:10-17
Heaven represents harmony, and divine Science interprets the Principle of heavenly harmony. The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man. This goal is never reached while we hate our neighbor or entertain a false estimate of anyone whom God has appointed to voice His Word.
Publications Quotation
Miscellaneous Writings By Mary Baker Eddy “Editor’s Extracts from Sermon” Pages 168:25-27, 29; 169:14-18 the, 22; and 170:12-15 she, 19-23
“The announcement that the Rev. Mary B. G. Eddy would speak before the Scientist denomination on the afternoon of October 26, drew a large audience. “The distinguished speaker began by saying:
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“… the Scriptures cannot properly be interpreted in a literal way. The truths they teach must be spiritually discerned, before their message can be borne fully to our minds and hearts.
“The literal rendering of the Scriptures makes them nothing valuable, but often is the foundation of unbelief and hopelessness. The metaphysical rendering is health and peace and hope for all. The literal or material reading is the reading of the carnal mind, which is enmity toward God, Spirit.
“… she spoke of the hades, or hell of Scripture, saying, that we make our own heavens and our own hells, by right and wise, or wrong and foolish, conceptions of God and our fellow-men.
“The material record of the Bible, she said, is no more important to our well-being than the history of Europe and America; but the spiritual application bears upon our eternal life. The method of Jesus was purely metaphysical; and no other method is Christian Science.”
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