Christian Science Time Machine


Notes and References 4/15/01
The Christian Science Time Machine

Why did Jesus utter those famous and fateful words below:

Matt 27:46
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

One only has to look at Psalms 22 to see that Jesus was “quoting” a well-known Psalm or song. The Psalm is actually one of inspiration, confidence and determination, not at all the despair of the first line. I have identified the key parts below. I is actually a prophesy that Jesus was reminding everyone of.

Ps 22:1-31
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?,

the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.

My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.

They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.


Jesus was crucified between two thieves. I like to think of these two thieves as the thief of the past and the thief of the future. Since the Christ is the “NOW”, the past and future try to rob us of the nowness of the Christ with fears of past failures and predictions of fearful events. But the Christ comes to the rescue right now! The way we escape from those two thieves is to seek the inspiration that lifts us above material claims. That requires clearing our thought of those claims of imitation, lack, etc. and the fears that make us timid about the next forward step. Look at Eccl 3:15
That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

Lets look at what that means, breaking the passage down point by point. (1) “That which hath been is now”. Remember when we talked about Mrs. Eddy’s passage in My on page 261:
God creates man perfect and eternal in His own image. Hence man is the image, idea, or likeness of perfection — an ideal which cannot fall from its inherent unity with divine Love, from its spotless purity and original perfection.

It is that “original perfection” which has always been and which is present right now. It’s the same perfection from Job 38.
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

If all the sons of God shouted for joy then we all must have been there. It is that foundation which we all can turn to right now.

(2) “That which is to be hath already been”
Here we look at the future with the confidence that God is all time. Let’s again turn to our Leader, this time on page 149 of Miscellany.
Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee. Therefore despair not nor murmur, for that which seeketh to save, to heal, and to deliver, will guide thee, if thou seekest this guidance.

Nothing in your future is unknown to the all-knowing Mind. In our textbook is the most simple statement of this fact: 233:16-17

Already the shadow of His right hand rests upon the hour.


Now what about the third part, (3) “God requireth that which is past.” Now the hard part. Not hard technically, but hard to do without humility. We are required to go back in our thought and remove limitation and lies that we have accepted as true. Then and only then can we see clearly what is true about the nowness of our being. Look at Retrospection, page 22:

The human history needs to be revised, and the material record expunged.

This process of experiencing (living in) the nowness of the Christ requires that we purify our thinking (the robes of Christ or “letting that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

Mrs. Eddy wrote a letter to Irving Tomlinson when he was elected Reader of The Mother Church. Here is the letter from Miscellany:
My 247:10-30
TO A FIRST READER

Beloved Student: — Christ is meekness and Truth enthroned. Put on the robes of Christ, and you will be lifted up and will draw all men unto you. The little fishes in my fountain must have felt me when I stood silently beside it, for they came out in orderly line to the rim where I stood. Then I fed these sweet little thoughts that, not fearing me, sought their food of me.
God has called you to be a fisher of men. It is not a stern but a loving look which brings forth mankind to receive your bestowal, — not so much eloquence as tender persuasion that takes away their fear, for it is Love alone that feeds them.
Do you come to your little flock so filled with divine food that you cast your bread upon the waters? Then be sure that after many or a few days it will return to you. The little that I have accomplished has all been done through love, — self-forgetful, patient, unfaltering tenderness.

Putting on the robes of Christ, seeing the nowness of the Christ means embracing two qualities: meekness and Truth –the meekness and humility required to look truthfully at our own thinking and consciously remove the soiled, spotted and stained characteristics that were never part of our original perfection. You are very familiar with the following paragraph. We have read it many times this past year.

Ret 86:7
Art thou still unacquainted with thyself? Then be introduced to this self. "Know thyself!" as said the classic Grecian motto. Note well the falsity of this mortal self! Behold its vileness, and remember this poverty-stricken "stranger that is within thy gates." Cleanse every stain from this wanderer's soiled garments, wipe the dust from his feet and the tears from his eyes, that you may behold the real man, the fellow-saint of a holy household. There should be no blot on the escutcheon of our Christliness when we offer our gift upon the altar.


Let’s close with the Manual provision for Easter Observances. The key sentence is the one that requires gratitude and lovein our heart. Very time you are successful in that

Man 60:12
Easter Observances. SECT. 2. In the United States there shall be no special observances, festivities, nor gifts at the Easter season by members of The Mother Church. Gratitude and love should abide in every heart each day of all the years. Those sacred words of our beloved Master, "Let the dead bury their dead," and "Follow thou me," appeal to daily Christian endeavors for the living whereby to exemplify our risen Lord.



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