“There is no power apart from God. Omnipotence has all-power, and to acknowledge any other power is to dishonor God.”
Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 228
If tempted to eat more than you need, when walking near the kitchen, or any stored place for food, be sure to give all power and influence over your actions to God, and never to food or appetite!
It’s normal for a human to eat, but eating should be accompanied with a feeling of dominion and authority over the experience of food consumption. This dominion comes from understanding that food does not have a mind of its own to influence our behavior, and neither does the brain, genes, past behavior or the actions of other people around us.
To find your dominion over food, stay clear that you are a child of God, not the offspring of lame mortal mind reasoning.
You reflect the one Mind of God that thinks for itself, makes sound decisions, and determines the outcome of its actions to be always beneficial and health producing.
As a child of God, you are not ruled by mortal passion, appetite and false beliefs about food. You are a spiritual thinker who reasons important issues out spiritually and finds the greatest happiness and contentment in understanding the source of all real happiness and contentment to be Spirit, and not food.
As a child of God, you are never helpless. God gives you a clear sense of what is right and what is wrong, and the ability to follow through with what is beneficial.
Honor God first before heading to the kitchen or dinner table. Stay filled with a spiritual understanding of God’s power and might and enjoy exercising your spiritual dominion over the consumption of food.
Thank you very much for that Evan. Could you please also address the claim of foods effect on digestion and comfort. Thanks again
Thank you, Evan– those are a few exercises of the commandments.
Dear Rebecca, that would interest me too. I try to claim food cannot hurt me because I am spiritual and it is only my belief about food which causes me pain. Nevertheless I am struggling to eat, and would like to have more dominion over this claim. Thank you Evan for this post about a very important subject, and thanks to all who have commented.
Thank you very much Evan for this wonderful spiritual view on the toppic Eating and Food.
That is very needed and so timely for me. Am just cooking me a meal with potatoes and vegetables. But before I started I looked thankfully to God as my real being and my only provider, taking fully care of me, leading me. God also gives me dominion over wrong feeling of always having appetite. It`s with me with sweets; I really should pray more instead of wanting to consume sweets. I am so grateful that we are never helpless, what Evan assures us – thanks a lot!
In reality only God`s food is healthy, namely spiritual food, making progress in spiritual understanding of our real and great source of provision. Mrs. Eddy says in SH that God – divine Love – has always met and will always meet every human need – thank you dear God!! 🙂
Thank You Evan, interesting topic, if I may deviate slightly, I would like your spiritual thoughts on the consumption of meat. I am a vegetarian and my reasons for not eating meat is compassion. I know that there are many reasons not to eat meat also such as health reasons and I am slightly torn with this thought also. I have had many discussions with my sister who is also CS and I said one of the 10 commandments says, “Thou shalt not kill”, wouldn’t that pertain to animals also? Would appreciate any spiritual insight you could offer, thank you.
A number of years ago, I had the realization that food has no intelligence. It can’t make me fat or lazy or even healthy. With this realization, I stopped counting calories and carbs. My friends thought I was crazy. It’s all a marketing ploy of the mortal mind! Jesus said to take no thought for what you eat or drink. God is omnipotent, the only power there is. I’m so grateful to have had this new understanding about food.
Thanks for this blog, Evan.
__________________
“Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink…;” Matt 6:24
Great Topic! Thanks, Evan! I was raised in CS with the idea that Food has no power, one way or the other, over me. We just always ate healthily and happily and never thought about what was “in” the Food…..the way so many people do today. Campbell’s Tomato Soup, Tuna Noodle Casserole and on and on. So many people don’t realize today that it’s not what’s IN the food we eat that has changed…..it’s peoples’ fear of contaminates…..due to increased advertising about the benefits of “eating organic” etc. A lot of it is just Fad (i.e. “gluten free”) and, as we all know….fads always come….and they go! Food has only the power that we choose to give it, just like everything in our human lives. It’s All Mental…..”There is no life, truth, intelligence or substance in matter……”!! Happy Normal and Natural Eating to All!
When I was contemplating this issue years back, considering the CS revelation of our purely spiritual nature, and understanding that clearly most of us are not at the level of demonstrating an ability to go without food, I began to ask myself: Who is the authority on eating right? And just as I found in Genesis 1 my true identity and dwelling place, I also found there in Genesis 1:29 what the Father created as food for his creation. I found it fascinating that regardless of our true spiritual nature, He was not silent on this issue of food.
Our loving Creator established His food plan for all creation at the foundation of the world; He gave it to Adam in Eden (Genesis 1:29), fed it to the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 16:35), and we return to this original peaceable plant-based food plan as we enter His Kingdom (Isaiah 11:6-9). In other words, Heaven and Eden are vegan! If we take the time to understand, and we make an effort to adopt His original plan, indeed we will be rewarded with more health, happiness and a truly more abundant life. After all, it is the Creator that defines what is food for all His creatures in Genesis 1:29, 30. Anything after this original peaceful design suggests a decline.
Just as we avoid consuming caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, etc., we should also seek to learn that many of the things we consume are NOT considered food to our Creator. Indeed, should more CS students understand the totality of the Genesis 1 revelation we would have less to heal! This has indeed been my personal experience over the past ten years since learning this forgotten and often overlooked command in Genesis and I am ever so grateful to be fully aligned with His design.
God gave the Israelites Manna and QUAIL to eat and the disciples and Jesus ate fish. Your vagen argument is spurious.
Jesus and Mrs. Eddy both ate Meat and made no Big Deal out of it. Christian Scientists eat Meat like normal human beings. Taking the Bible literally is NOT Christian Science! It is more what Evangelical Christians tend to do! Or it gets over into some Buddhist and Hindu philosophy. We eat normal Food, including Meat, until we have completely spiritualized our thought and no longer need to be here in a body – like Jesus did with his ascension! Now….how many of us are ready to Ascend…..???
You clearly enjoy eating meat, while some others here clearly enjoy not eating it. There are also those like myself that have mixed feelings about it. Given that I love animals, and would never personally kill one for food, I’ve always questioned why it’s ok with me to let others do the killing for me. Nobody has to make anybody wrong for their food choices. We’re free to make our own decisions, the same as we choose which political party we feel most affiliated with. Live and let live is the best motto on this subject.
Vegans, vegetarians and everyone concerned enough about animal welfare and the sanctity of animal life to take steps in that direction are human beings who are in no way sub-normal. If our compassion and willingness to adjust our lives for the love of the many other species also created by God is ever considered not to be ‘normal’ that is a reflection of how much more scope and need there is for love to be expressed in the world – to humans and non-humans alike.
Thanks Anna for drawing attention to the opportunity we all have to choose kindly and with awareness. Thanks Evan – a great topic in many ways beyond the animal/vegan subject.
Thanks Evan for this topic today and thanks everyone for your great comments!
I was driving past an automobile repair shop the other day and a sign caught my eye that read “Gluten free tire rotations. Stop in now!” I had to chuckle at that, but it pointed out how fixated people are these days on the latest food fads (loved your post Bevi) that an auto repair shop would try to use food fads to gain attention for their business.
Last night I was reading Science and Health and came across this statement in the answer to the question “What is error?” on page 472:
Error is a belief without understanding.
It occurred to me that even a belief in truth…without understanding…would fall into this definition of error. When being presented with ideas similar to the ones Evan shared today I’ve noticed some people will respond with questions like “If food has no power, then does that mean I can eat as much as I want with no consequences?” That type of question reflects a “belief without understanding” and is therefore “error”. Even though the premise of that question, “food has no power” is truth, when one truly understands that statement they will have no desire to be glutenous because food will no longer be a god to them.
I also especially loved Gail’s post. I am recently realizing how many so-called “food laws” I’ve accepted over the years. Things like “bread, pasta, etc. are fattening”, “prunes have a lot of fiber and will therefore keep you regular”, “cheese will give you constipation”, etc., etc. I’m now realizing how subtle those beliefs can be and that I no longer have to accept them and I’m studying to *understand* why that is true (i.e. a loving God that is Mind, did not create some ideas that are harmful to God’s other ideas…all of God’s ideas operate in complete harmony with each other and each have a purpose…therefore I can experience humanly God’s idea of supply and sustenance as healthy and harmless food and I am guided by Mind to eat only what best reflects God’s harmonious control over my life).
Right On, Brian! You Nailed It! Thanks!
Anna, thank you for your deep thinking into Genesis 1. My Christian Science teacher had also come to the realization that the Bible says in Gen. 1:29 “I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. (NLT). She became a plant-eater, not a meat-eater. I did, too.
Karin, thank you for your simple and sufficient response. There are
many reasons people do not eat meat, spiritual, health and compassion.
We have a supply either way!!
One of the first articles I printed on CS was Evan’s about food. Can’t remember the title right now but I took it to the gym and read it on a stationary bike often. I had gained weight for the first time in my life – a lot of it- and I started a few diets which was a mistake. I did realize this was mental, not what I put in my mouth. What was at the core of it had just made it around to weight gain so I needed to resolve it. I don’t give any power to food and I eat until I am full. I lost over 40 lbs with prayer and meditation. My patrons remark all the time even though I lost this weight several years ago, how much weight I have lost and how good I look. I tell them I just take better care of myself.
Hi Nadine,
thank you – I totaly go conform with your comment. It is all mental!
For instance Mrs. Eddy wrights in SH on p. 530: 5-12 :
“In divine Science, man is sustained by God, the divine Principle of being. The earth, at God`s command, brings forth food for man`s use. Knowing this, Jesus once said, “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink,” – presuming not on the prerogative of his creator, but recognizing God, the Father and Mother of all, as able to feed and clothe man as He doth the lilies.”
So friends, we must not worry what to eat and cloth. Mrs. Eddy also says somewhere in her books “eat what you like …” in that sense.
And last but not least I call your attention to Evan`s lecture “are you flourishing” where he gives a testimony how he managed through prayer to come from big to a normal weight. Diets did not help him, but glimpses of truth through prayer. It is a wonderful lecture; I would recommend to watch that lecture.
Thank you all for your very interesting and inspiring comments!
Love to all 🙂
I think it’s the Seventh Day Adventists that believe in the literal interpretation of Gen. 1: 29. Christian Scientists are not Food Faddists like that – we are Metaphysicians and work everything out through the One Divine Mind. Mrs. Eddy would have a lot to say about this “conversation” going on here today!! Hint: Read the Chapter in Science and Health: Genesis, p. 518, l.7 and see if she says anything about not eating Meat! Come On, People – this is NOT Christian Science!
Nice, Nadine! But how about telling them that you lost weight through your Metaphysical Understanding and Prayer in Christian Science? Why do we feel shy about sharing C.S. Healing with Others?
Vegetarianism is kind and compassionate. Meat-eating is not.
Today, we have plenty of info to eat vegetarian in a fully healthful nutritious way.
There is simply no valid reason for meat-eating It’s just habit, is all,.
Science and Health does say: “The individuality created by God is not carnivorous.” I think we should demonstrate this so far as we are humanly able.
Look, I know some of you on this Website may not be “full fledged” Christian Scientists – and that’s OK. You don’t have to be. But Please don’t attribute Vegetarianism to the Teaching and Practice of Christian Science. It’s simply just NOT in the Teaching….ANY WHERE!! Just because you CHOOSE to be Vegetarian, doesn’t mean that you have to back it up with saying it is in accord with C.S. It’s just what YOU Choose to do – nothing more! It’s not in the Bible, in Jesus’ Teachings or in Christianity. It’s just what some people, who profess to be Christians, choose to do and they seem to have a need to have permission from God and their Religion to back up their choices.
Appreciate the topic Evan. Interesting comments by all. Especially thank Gail, Bevi and Brian. I had a practitioner 60 years ago who said to never forget that CS also stands for common sense!!
Thanks to all for this interesting conversation. I’d like to share something that happened to me years ago. I gained some extra weight with my first baby, and when I was expecting my second baby, I knew I didn’t want that weight any more. I decided to take a stand and recognize that I was governed by divine Mind only, and that I must claim God as the sole governor of all my thoughts regarding physical activity and eating. I did not use willpower or thinking of diet as a means to change my body. I claimed Mind to be the only mind. The result was that I was the perfect weight I should be when I had my first visit with the doctor. A truly funny and amazing thing happened during this time. I made brownies for my husband, and I didn’t even want to taste them! ( My family had always teased me about my middle name being “chocolate” as I could never resist anything chocolate!) We can be guided by the our Creator, the one Mind, to eat what is right for us to eat.
Wow Evan you have certainly opened up a can of worms here with this blog! For my part I eat what I enjoy – meat dishes and vegetarian dishes and try not to take in all the tv ads and media articles about what is supposed to be good or bad for me. God not food is the only power. Love to all.
Thank you, Evan. All the comments are helpful, especially Brian’s. Tomorrow when I reread this it may be someone else, so much good thought in here.
I also stopped eating meat because I love animals so much. But my changed eating habits seemed to be a burden when I was invited to eat in someone else’s home, and even when the rest of my family ate meat and it was sometimes a nuisance to prepare something different for myself, but it did not seem right to eat animals. One day, however, when I was deeply praying about one of our pet chickens who had been injured and was severely struggling, it became so clear that she was entirely spiritual and the so called material chicken that seemed to be struggling to live was but a shadow of her forever intact being. The next day she was fully healed. Shortly after this I rejoiced that anyone eating meat was NEVER obstructing the pure idea Life is always maintaining. I made the choice to eat meat again.