I was listening to a Christian Science lecture given by Ginny Leudeman, and she made the most ear-catching summary of how to think about DNA.

She was relaying how her dad was an alcoholic, and when she grew up she had to pray assiduously to break away from the belief that she had to suffer from problems her dad suffered from, including undesirable characteristics passed on to her through DNA.

When she discovered Christian Science, she began to see that bad habits are not passed on from mortals to their ancestors, except in belief. Through understanding God to be the Father-Mother creator, we can exempt ourselves from harmful hereditary beliefs and realize that DNA is shorthand for Does Not Apply!

Kind of catchy, I thought. I certainly won’t forget it.

God makes us who we are, not mortal ancestors, genes or chromosomes.