Do Christian Scientests believe in a Personel God?

[Geo]

Hi I am new to this site and am confused about my reading. If I understand correctly Christian Scientests do not believe in a personel God in any way. Can anyone say if this is right. I think of God in a very personel way and wonder if this is contrary to the successful practice of Christian Science? Thanks - Geo

[levity]

Hi Geo,

I'm not totally sure what you mean by "do Christian Scientists believe in a personal God," so please tell me if my answer isn't the answer to your question. I'd be happy to give it another shot!

As a Christian Scientist, I'd say that I'm not sure I have a "personal God" but I do have a very personal relationship with God. In other words, I feel like I can talk to God, that I'm connected to God, that I can feel God's love for me--and that nothing can change or in any way destroy that relationship. Nothing I can do will ever make God love me less.

I don't know how much of the site you've explored, but you may have read about/heard God referred to as Father-Mother, and that's something else I've loved about what I've come to know of God through my study of Christian Science. To me, this idea of God as my Father and Mother makes me feel like I'm cared for, guided, protected, looked after, supported in my growth, and of course, loved. All the things a child would hope for from a parent. I feel like I can look to God when I'm scared, or have a problem, and I can get an answer or insight or inspiration that's exactly what I need. And if I've done something wrong, I feel like I can turn to my Father-Mother and feel assured of God's totally steadfast love for me. (A love which also makes me want to change for the better!)

So, in sum: My relationship (my very personal relationship with God, you could say) is what my practice of Christian Science is all about. Because as I come to know more about God, all the stuff in my life that isn't good, or is limited, or is in some way weighing me down, starts to fall away. And often, I get a new, more spiritual view of myself as a result, too.

[hsm]

Hey Geo,

I agree with Levity that Christian Scientists definitely feel a very close and personal relationship to God. It's like Jesus feeling so intimate with his Father that he spoke to Him using the name "Abba" - which means "Daddy." I can't say that I am yet at the point where I feel THAT close to my Creator, but Christian Science really does help me understand God and my inseparable relationship to God better.

Sometimes people get a little thrown off by some of the new words Christian Science uses for God. All of them are rooted in Biblical concepts - words like Love, Spirit, Truth, Soul - are the most familiar ones. But Christian Science also refers to God as "Principle" which might seem abstract at first but this is based on the Bible's teaching that God is the great and only Cause, the one perfect "Lawmaker" of the universe. We also think of God as infinite Mind - again, a Biblical term you can find in the writings of St. Paul as when he said that we should have the "same mind that was in Christ." The other synonym for God that Christian Scientists use is "Truth" - as in the Biblical phrase, "A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He." All of these terms help to define and amplify our understanding of God - to bring us CLOSER to Him in our understanding.

Hope this helps!

[livinglightly]

Hi,


In one of her books called Miscellaneous Writings, Mary Baker Eddy answers the question "Do I believe in a personal God?"

She writes "I believe in a God as the Supreme Being. I know not what the person of omnipotence and omnipresence is, or what the infinte includes; therefore, I worship that of which I can conceive, first, as a loving Father and Mother, then, as thought ascends the scale of being to diviner consciousness, God becomes to me, as to the apostle who declared it, "God is Love," - divine Principle, - which I worship; and "after teh manner of my fathers, so worship I God." pg 96

As I've wrestled with understanding God, and using the healing principles of Christian Science, I've discovered that as I mentally and prayerfully explore God's allness, omnipotence, and omnipresence, and infinitude, healing becomes more natural.

I'm no longer looking for a saviour in a person, but acquainting myself with Life itself. And for me, this relationship is very personal.

[Geo]

Just wanted to say thanks to those who commented on my question about a personal God. I came away reinforced and informed. Thanks so very much Geo

[Courtenay]

Hi Geo,

Not much I can add to the wonderful replies already given! I think of God in a "very personal way" too - as being right here with me and everyone all the time, always conscious of us, speaking to us, guiding us, holding us, loving us... I'm sure you've felt that too, as have the others who've already replied.

Christian Science makes so absolutely clear that God is our Father-Mother, not some "impersonal" force of nature or the cosmos. So yes, God is personal in that sense - and Mrs Eddy does sometimes refer to God as "personal" or "infinite Person" in that way (don't have references on me, sorry!). However, she also makes very clear that God is not a human personality - that is, not a corporeal being, not having the vagaries and changeability of a material, mortal person. So God is "personal" in the sense of being real and intelligent and loving and intimately "in touch" with us, but not in the sense of being anthropomorphic (in a human form). Hope that clears things up a bit. :)

Love, Courtenay

[chismith]

Our true nature which is oringinally pure can be called "God', that's why we feel so intimate with it as if "God" is personal.

"Be still and know that I am God" -- Get it? That is what prayer is all about. So why plead, beg, request, bargain, argue, chit chat,..., and on and on while pray? It will be meaningless like a person who is insane.