Who are you related to? Hopefully, you answered, “Christ.”
When Jesus was quizzed about his family, he asked the question, “’Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?’ Then he pointed to his disciples and said, ‘Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” (Matt. 12:48-50).
Jesus saw himself as a member of God’s family, in Christ. Christ is the perfect man of God’s creating.
You too, are a member of God’s family, in Christ. As a child of God, you do not have a mortal ancestry to identify with. You were not created by mortal ancestors, and you are not the product of a mortal ancestry. You have a spiritual individuality, made in the likeness of God, that existed way before your human parents knew anything about you.
Your individuality is perfect. It has no flaws. It is not genetically deficient or lacking in any way. You are exactly what God created you to be—and it’s awesome!
So, if you’re beleaguered by any hereditary beliefs, cut the ancestral line between yourself and any mortal from the past. You were not created by them. You were created by God, the perfect Father and Mother.
We honor our parents as children of God, but not as our creators. God is the one Creator of all!
“In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through material conditions prior to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being” Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 63.
I honor gratefully every word here. They are so important for all of us. Parents children grannies adopted and orphaned princes princesses nobility and every day heros and sheros though un-acknowledged by the world.
God surely gives us all gifts and kingdoms on earth without end. Blessings untold indeed are ours. Thank you Evan. Wonderful sending!
I am a little confused by this. On the one hand, I agree that the ideas of illness or bad behaviors are somehow “inherited” is an error to be eradicated, is it wrong to have built the family tree to document my ancestors who came over on the Mayflower, fought in the American Revolution, were architects of the Declaration of Independence fled religious persecution and eventually came into Christian Science? My thought isn’t there yet, but I shall pray on it more.
John, Know what you mean. When I prayed about this the answer that came to me was, “ My Kingdom is not of this world.” If that isn’t helpful to you just discard it. For me it brought an understanding that things of this world aren’t transferable to Spirit. When lamenting my case to God because both of my children had passed on I got a loud and clear rebuke, of sorts. “They aren’t your children their Mine!” The understanding came that nothing belongs to us, personally. Where you are in your understanding is alright, it will all come when you are ready for it, not a moment to early or a second to late. There’s no condemnation just a remembering of who we are. Blessings
Beautifully expressed!
dear John,
cherish your ancestors of your family tree as your best friends.
My mother once said, that she and my father are my best friends. You know, they are also God`s loved children coming direct from God, Spirit and are blessed by their Father/Mother God and cared for by Him. Evan said it so clear, that everybody is a member of God`s family in Christ, so wonderful!
I think the Bible passage from Matthew is very suitable. You see, your ancestors certainly did the will of our Father in heaven and consequently are everthing to you what Christ Jesus said in that Matthew passage above in today`s so inspiring SpiritView.
Thank you very much, dear Evan for it! Yesterday evening I had the reading in our testimony meeting, and my theme was besides some others also about this Matthew passage. From that I happily see that the one loving Divine Mind is governing us all – thank you God; and thank you all for your inspired comments, also helping John, to understand it better!
Love to all 🙂
Oh John, cherish that family tree, have gratitude for all who have made great contributions to society all while knowing that God defines us as his dearly loved children, perfect in every way, happy and healthy and always experiencing abundant joy and freedom from lack or any limitations! It is good to ask daily, How does God see me? my neighbor? my family? – the answer is consistent every time. He sees us as all good. lacking nothing and loves each of us equally every minute of the day. His presence is here and now and has always been with all His dear children along the way.
Happy day!
So very helpful. Thank you ♥️
Well said, Evan, and an important point. Regaling our human ancestry can sometimes appear to separate one from his or her Godly heritage by suggesting the imperfections of either pride or shame, neither of which is a quality of God’s spiritually perfect, humble Man.
John, it is clear from Retrospection and Introspection that MBE honoured her illustrious human ancestors, but would she honour less those who were equally illustrious but happened not to be related to her? Would she honour less those of her ancestors of no public importance or less successful in their human experiences? For some reason this topic of human ancestry has long intrigued me, perhaps because my husband has done so much research, and I feel a great love for the ancestors, doing the best they were ready to do and part of that great movement forward in human awareness that we all participate in. If it is of no significance which human family we find ourselves in then is that totally random? Surely God has placed us where we need to be and our loyalty is to include human family and ancestry but never to the exclusion of the rest of humanity.
Many thanks, Evan, for this Christian Science treatment. What it also brings to thought is this further citation from Science and Health:
The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of man’s origin. To begin rightly is to end rightly. SH 262:27-28
I find this applicable not only to beliefs of disease and negative character traits but to sin as well. So grateful that Christ is here, waking us up, as far as we are ready to understand, from the dream of life in matter!
Thank you for the subject and discussion pertaining to heredity today and for the quote from Science and Health,
” In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through material conditions prior to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being”.
I’d like to share a healing I witnessed as I prayed with this quote. My husband had a growth on the side of his head. He’d had it for quite some time and I had noticed it before but now it began to really bother me. He never mentioned it and neither did I. But one day God told me that when I saw this growth or thought of it I should go right to this passage and pray with it. I truly didn’t see the relevance of the statement to the problem but I knew I had been divinely directed and so the next time I noticed the growth I was obedient. I knew this statement quite well, so it was easy to turn to it whenever I needed to. I did this faithfully, sometimes several times a day for about two months. I didn’t analyze what I thought it meant or what it’s application to this problem might be. I just accepted it as the truth and therefore the law.
And then one day my husband came in from working outside in the heat and said,”You know that growth I had on my forehead? …well I just wiped my face with my handkerchief and it came off.” There was new pink skin already formed underneath and the growth has never returned.
But he real revelation came a few months later when my husband was talking about his grandfather, who he was very close to. He said he was sorry that he had been living out of state and didn’t see his grandfather before he died of skin cancer, which, he said, ran in his family I was speechless as I realized the depth and relevance of the truth in this statement and it’s application to the problem. And I have quietly cherished this healing deep in my heart for many years. But I wanted to share it with all of you today, giving gratitude to God for revealing the truth that heals. And so much gratitude to you as well, Evan, for this message today that reminded me of this healing and the blessing it brought.
Thanks for sharing this beautiful healing.
Anonymous, I am so impressed by this wonderful testimony of yours!
thank you very very much for sharing it with us all!
It shows us the wonders God does to us without end, what also the Bible states.
Endless thanks to our loving God! !
Thanks, Evan, for another thoughtful and inspiring blog, and to all who have shared their thoughts. I’m especially grateful to Anonymous for sharing that healing experience and how inspirations are relevant even when they don’t appear to be at the time.
I’ve always wondered just exactly what Mrs. Eddy means when she says in Science and Health – “In Science…..” What word could we substitute there…..”In Reality”?…..”In Truth”?…..”In the Absolute”?……”In Spiritual Understanding”?……. Any one have any ideas…??
Bevi, I think all of your choices for “Science” are correct. Each one indicates where “All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation”.
My understanding regarding ancestry is that we cannot claim ourselves and others to be the image and likeness of God (spiritual, perfect and immortal), and simultaneously identify ourselves with a material, sometimes imperfect, mortal lineage. That’s dualism, and brings to mind Mary Baker’s Eddy’s words: “sometimes beautiful, always erroneous’. As my dad used to say, it’s being a mugwump.….someone who sits on the fence with his mug on one side and his wump on the other.
P.S. You can find clear answers to any questions about ancestry in Section 2 of this week’s Bible Lesson.
Grateful thanks for another helpful & enlightening post today, Evan! And thank you very much Anonymous for sharing your husband’s wonderful healing which has inspired me tremendously. And thank you Kathie for the giggle over “mugwump”! Yes! Section 2 of this week’s Bible Lesson on “Spirit” is a beauty!
Thanks to Evan and to all contributors. That paragraph on p.63 has always meant a lot to me. It was very meaningful to my dad who did not know his so-called “birth parents.” God, indeed, is our Father (and Mother). My dear Sunday School teacher (a practitioner) had emphasized to me how important it is to release children as “yours,” and to know that they are God’s, even before they are born. This was extremely valuable to me when I was separated from my two toddlers for two months. I didn’t feel torn from them, nor did they from me. I’ve always taught my children that God is their real Father-Mother. Because of this way of thinking, my kids (3) and I are very close, even though many miles separate us. God is truly All. His love and care are ever present with each one of us. (And John, I think we can be happy that our so-called ancestors did something good in this world.)
I’m a little late to the party but had to express my thanks to Evan for his way with words. Many of us know the truth contained in Evan’s blog but when Evan puts it in his oh so understandable way, it’s fresh and meaningful…like the first time we’ve heard it!
Anonymous, thank you for sharing your husbands healing. You did such a good job listening and following. Well done! And now it is blessing all of us! It alerts us to not except erroneous suggestions for others or allow ourselves to be bothered by them, but to be clear about the truth about them in our own thinking. As you proved, it brings healing! Thank you again. (=
Kathie, thank you for the chuckle and words of wisdom from your dad. (=’
Bevi, I usually substitute “Truth” or “the Truth of being” for Science. Use whatever makes the most sense to you! All your suggestions are good.(=
And thank you ALL for your comments. <3