Part 74 (2/2)
524:27 It must be a lie, for G.o.d presently curses the ground.
Could Spirit evolve its opposite, matter, and give matter ability to sin and suffer? Is Spirit, G.o.d, injected into 524:30 dust, and eventually ejected at the demand of matter?
Does Spirit enter dust, and lose therein the divine nature 525:1 and omnipotence? Does Mind, G.o.d, enter matter to be- come there a mortal sinner, animated by the breath of 525:3 G.o.d? In this narrative, the validity of matter is opposed, not the validity of Spirit or Spirit's creations. Man re- flects G.o.d; _mankind_ represents the Adamic race, and is 525:6 a human, not a divine, creation.
Definitions of man
The following are some of the equivalents of the term _man_ in different languages. In the Saxon, _mankind, a 525:9 _woman, any one_; in the Welsh, _that which rises up_, - the primary sense being _image, form_; in the Hebrew, _image, similitude_; in the Icelandic, _mind_.
525:12 The following translation is from the Icelandic: -
And G.o.d said, Let us make man after our mind and our likeness; and G.o.d shaped man after His mind; after 525:15 G.o.d's mind shaped He Him; and He shaped them male and female.
No baneful creation
In the Gospel of John, it is declared that all things were 525:18 made through the Word of G.o.d, ”and without Him [the _logos_, or _word_] was not anything made that was made.” Everything good or worthy, G.o.d 525:21 made. Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not make, - hence its unreality. In the Science of Genesis we read that He saw everything which He had made, 525:24 ”and, behold, it was very good.” The corporeal senses declare otherwise; and if we give the same heed to the history of error as to the records of truth, the Scriptural 525:27 record of sin and death favors the false conclusion of the material senses. Sin, sickness, and death must be deemed as devoid of reality as they are of good, G.o.d.
525:30 _Genesis_ ii. 9. And out of the ground made the Lord G.o.d [Jehovah] to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, 526:1 and good for food; the tree of life also, in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Contradicting first creation
526:3 The previous and more scientific record of creation declares that G.o.d made ”every plant of the field be- fore it was in the earth.” This opposite 526:6 declaration, this statement that life issues from matter, contradicts the teaching of the first chap- ter, - namely, that all Life is G.o.d. Belief is less than 526:9 understanding. Belief involves theories of material hear- ing, sight, touch, taste, and smell, termed the five senses.
The appet.i.tes and pa.s.sions, sin, sickness, and death, 526:12 follow in the train of this error of a belief in intelligent matter.
Record of error
The first mention of evil is in the legendary Scriptural 526:15 text in the second chapter of Genesis. G.o.d p.r.o.nounced good all that He created, and the Scriptures declare that He created all. The ”tree of 526:18 life” stands for the idea of Truth, and the sword which guards it is the type of divine Science. The ”tree of knowledge” stands for the erroneous doctrine that the 526:21 knowledge of evil is as real, hence as G.o.d-bestowed, as the knowledge of good. Was evil inst.i.tuted through G.o.d, Love? Did He create this fruit-bearer of sin in contra- 526:24 diction of the first creation? This second biblical account is a picture of error throughout.
_Genesis_ ii. 15. And the Lord G.o.d [Jehovah] took the 526:27 man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it.
Garden of Eden
The name Eden, according to Cruden, means _pleasure_, 526:30 _delight._ In this text Eden stands for the mortal, mate- 527:1 rial body. G.o.d could not put Mind into matter nor in- finite Spirit into finite form to dress it and 527:3 keep it, - to make it beautiful or to cause it to live and grow. Man is G.o.d's reflection, needing no cultivation, but ever beautiful and complete.
527:6 _Genesis_ ii. 16, 17. And the Lord G.o.d [Jehovah] com- manded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good 527:9 and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
No temptation from G.o.d
Here the metaphor represents G.o.d, Love, as tempting 527:12 man, but the Apostle James says: ”G.o.d cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.” It is true that a knowledge of evil would 527:15 make man mortal. It is plain also that mate- rial perception, gathered from the corporeal senses, consti- tutes evil and mortal knowledge. But is it true that G.o.d, 527:18 good, made ”the tree of life” to be the tree of death to His own creation? Has evil the reality of good? Evil is un- real because it is a lie, - false in every statement.
527:21 _Genesis_ ii. 19. And out of the ground the Lord G.o.d [Jehovah] formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he 527:24 would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
Creation's counterfeit
Here the lie represents G.o.d as repeating creation, but 527:27 doing so materially, not spiritually, and ask- ing a prospective sinner to help Him. Is the Supreme Being retrograding, and is man giving up his 527:30 dignity? Was it requisite for the formation of man 528:1 that dust should become sentient, when all being is the reflection of the eternal Mind, and the record declares 528:3 that G.o.d has already created man, both male and female? That Adam gave the name and nature of animals, is solely mythological and material. It can- 528:6 not be true that man was ordered to create man anew in partners.h.i.+p with G.o.d; this supposition was a dream, a myth.
528:9 _Genesis_ ii. 21, 22. And the Lord G.o.d [Jehovah, Yawah]
caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead 528:12 thereof; and the rib, which the Lord G.o.d [Jehovah] had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man.
<script>