Tell the Truth about the lie!


References and Notes from Sunday, Jan 23, 2000.
Tell the truth about the lie!

At a fork in the road stand two guards. One always tells the truth the other always tells a lie. Following the road to the right leads to a devouring dragon, the other leads safely home. You don’t know which is the safe road and you are only allowed to ask one question of either guard, not both. And, you don’t know which one is honest and which is the liar. What is the single question to ask that provides the response which will assure a safe decision? Answer: Ask either guard what the other guard will say when asked which road leads to safety?
Both guards will identify the wrong path and if you don’t reverse the answer you will be on your way to the dragon! Let’s see why. If you’re querying the truthful guard he will tell you truthfully what the liar says and the liar will lie about which road is safe. On the other hand, if you’re asking the liar the same question he will lie about what the truthful guard will say, and again you’ll be pointed to the wrong road. So, whether you’re being told a lie about the truth or the truth about the lie, it’s still exposed as a lie and you must do the opposite to find the right path.
Mary Baker Eddy writes on page 120, “Science reverses the false testimony of the physical senses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the fundamental facts of being. Then the question inevitably arises: Is a man sick if the material senses indicate that he is in good health? No! for matter can make no conditions for man. And is he well if the senses say he is sick? Yes, he is well in Science in which health is normal and disease is abnormal.”

Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees, saying, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do...When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth why do ye not believe me?” (Jn 8: 44-46) The third chapter of Romans adds to the same thought, “For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? ...let God be true and every man a liar;”.(Rom 3: 3-4)

Mrs. Eddy tells us that “Evil which obtains in the bodily senses, but which the heart condemns, has no foundation; but if evil is uncondemned, it is undenied and nurtured. When needed tell the truth concerning the lie.” (S & H 448: 5-7; 9) This is most quickly done by identifying the source of the lie. Whose telling you the lie and why? Is matter or Spirit the source? As God’s reflection you and I can only reflect Truth and Spirit and the material claim about us must of necessity have no source, after all, it is a lie. Reverse that lie and claim instead your truthful and healthful identity. (...And by the way, there’s no such thing as dragons.)

What does all this have to do with HOW TO GIVE A TREATMENT? Well, false belief is a liar and must be denied. It is the belief that produces bad results. Look at a paragraph from the Lesson this week: 184:6-12
"Belief produces the results of belief, and the penalties it affixes last so long as the belief and are inseparable from it. The remedy consists in probing the trouble to the bottom, in finding and casting out by denial the error of belief which produces a mortal disorder, never honoring erroneous belief with the title of law nor yielding obedience to it."

It should be crystal clear that if “belief produces the results of belief” then we must deny the subtle lie we have taken in –“probing (our thought) to the bottom” and casting out the lie by denial. Remember that paragraph in Mrs. Eddy’s chapter “Apocalypse”? 559:1-8
"This angel had in his hand "a little book," open for all to read and understand. Did this same book contain the revelation of divine Science, the "right foot" or dominant power of which was upon the sea, — upon elementary, latent error, the source of all error's visible forms? The angel's left foot was upon the earth; that is, a secondary power was exercised upon visible error and audible sin."

The elementary error or latent sin is what needs to be uncovered in your thought in order to heal the outward manifestation or problem.

THIS COMING WEEK’S LESSON ON LOVE

It really has it all. The doctrine of Christian Science, The Prodigal Son story (remember how we related that to the Beatitudes?); the specific qualities of Prayer; Paul’s lecture on Love from I Cor 13—Make sure and read it. And, review the 9 stages of Growth from the Archives on our web page.

See you all Sunday.


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