Accidents and the randomness of life

[A.m.yParticipant]

I’ve gotten news today of two separate incidents involving kids — one fatal, one serious — from random accidents. I’d love some fresh ideas to think about. Anyone?

[Annette-DModerator]

Hi Amy-

No amount of false evidence can separate anyone from God–their Life. A couple passages come to mind. One is from the lesson, “Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man’s dominion over the whole earth.” S&H p 14:25-28

The other, I just read from Unity of Good- “Evil is without Principle. Being destitute of Principle, it is devoid of Science. Hence it is undemonstrable, without proof.” Un 49:22-24

Have you ever considered the fact that evil (accidents in this case) has no proof? We can only demonstrate good because it has a Principle. Evil has nothing behind it, so it can have no witness, no power, no existence.

Hugs,
Annette

[IngeModerator]

I love the simplicity of the spiritual fact that Life doesn’t stop short–never has, never will. Right now, no one is being deprived of their consciousness, vitality, Love, joy and peace.

I’ve been praying today with the line from the Lord’s Prayer and its Spiritual Interpretation– Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven ; enable us to know, –as in heaven, so on earth–God is omnipotent supreme.

Principle, Life is not random, but orderly, precise and complete. Life’s will– Life’s force, power, command, is for activity, vitality, reality, joy, beauty, consciousness. And there is no other will, no other power or force to the contrary. Not accident, not injury, not disease, nothing.

[David-BParticipant]

I’ve really been getting into this week’s lesson and thinking about Jesus’ life and the importance of the resurrection in demonstrating what the Christ and everlasting life is.

It’s not in this week’s lesson, but it easily could be: “Let men think they had killed the body! Afterwards he would show it to them unchanged. This demonstrates that in Christian Science the true man is governed by God — by good, not evil — and is therefore not a mortal but an immortal” (Science and Health 42:24-28).

The people trying to kill Jesus were trying to stomp out an idea that was so spiritual, no body could ever contain it. It’s like that with us, too. We’re not confined to our bodies or a mortal life. Nothing can stop a spiritual idea from existing.

I like that last sentence from the quote. The true child is always governed by God, by complete good. Never is there a time when evil is in control, and this fact robs the grave of its victory.

[SusieeeParticipant]

I like to remember that any problem, no matter how personal it seems, is really directed at our understanding of God. An accident is basically saying that there was a moment when God, good, was not governing. It is saying that God is random and whimsical, instead of a divine Principle that is more reliable than the very best human laws we know. It is saying that human circumstance has the final word, and spiritual facts cannot overturn its verdict.

I am finding it highly effective to defend my understanding of God. I insist that I cannot be made to believe in a God that is any less than good, present, loving, reliable, and constant; that I cannot be made to believe that He made His children any less than good, safe, worthy, healthy; and that I and everyone in the world have every right to overturn any circumstance that denies these things and see healing.

We’re right there with you and all the children of the world, Amy. Jesus’ demonstration of the supremacy of Spirit and the accessibility of spiritual law and healing cannot be denied and will stand for all mankind. Thanks so much for your love, prayer, and support of them.

[A.m.yParticipant]

Thank you all…and thank you for joining me in praying for the children of the world and so we can better feel the divine order of Life. :)

[JamesCParticipant]

A while back I was clicking through the TV menu and happened on a guy discussing vibrational frequencies and how they attract things into our lives. Now, I’m not about to attempt to explain this concept because it’s pretty fuzzy to me, but I’m sure there are websites if anyone is interested.
But since the speaker indicated we can attract bad things like accidents, violent attacks, diseases and such, I felt my efforts would be better served by seeing what the Science and Health said.
Page 259: 25
“Vibration is not intelligence; hence it is not a creator. Immortal ideas, pure, perfect, and enduring, are transmitted by the divine Mind through divine Science, which corrects error with truth and demands spiritual thoughts, divine concepts, to the end that they may produce harmonious results.”
It never ceases to amaze me that our textbook always has what I’m looking for to help me reason through new ideas. Frankly, until this vibrational frequency discussion the sentence, “Vibration is not intelligence; hence it is not a creator,” never had much meaning to me.

[Annette-DModerator]

Wow James, I love how you applied that passage about vibration! Another one that I thought of as I was reading your post was, “There is but one real attraction, that of Spirit.” Since Spirit is God, Good, that’d rule out people attracting bad things to themselves, wouldn’t it?

We have a great Pastor! Always has the answers. :)

Annette

[AmyRioModerator]

The people trying to kill Jesus were trying to stomp out an idea that was so spiritual, no body could ever contain it. It’s like that with us, too. We’re not confined to our bodies or a mortal life. Nothing can stop a spiritual idea from existing.

Wow, David…thanks!

[IngeModerator]

I was thinking about this more earlier in the day today, and kept thinking to myself “But of course, even with these truths, it’s normal to feel sympathy with what those parents are going through. I can only imagine if I were in that same situation” I was somewhat caught off guard though when a citation from S&H immediately came to my thought: “Neither sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish error in any form, and we certainly should not be error’s advocate.” (153:31)

I still am mentally wrestling that one a bit– I really felt the power of that truth, but my initial reaction was to say “But that’s so heartless!”. I suppose the crucial distinction is between having compassion on the parents and everyone involved, but having the compassion to lift those individuals up in thought, rather than to see them as victims of a terrible situation. Just thinking out loud here. .

Love the thoughts being shared though– so relevant to so many problems, particularly global issues.

[AmyRioModerator]

I was thinking about this more earlier in the day today, and kept thinking to myself “But of course, even with these truths, it’s normal to feel sympathy with what those parents are going through. I can only imagine if I were in that same situation” I was somewhat caught off guard though when a citation from S&H immediately came to my thought: “Neither sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish error in any form, and we certainly should not be error’s advocate.” (153:31)

I still am mentally wrestling that one a bit– I really felt the power of that truth, but my initial reaction was to say “But that’s so heartless!”. I suppose the crucial distinction is between having compassion on the parents and everyone involved, but having the compassion to lift those individuals up in thought, rather than to see them as victims of a terrible situation. Just thinking out loud here. .

Hi Inge, I’m really glad you brought this up. Recently, a young man I had been working for during a couple of months was diagnosed with cancer. He was operated on and then more cancer was found, and now he has pretty much been given a death sentence by the doctors. He has a wife and three kids, one of them less than two years old. I had to wrestle with a feeling of outrage and despair over his situation, and I spoke with a practitioner about it. She pointed out that we have to be careful not to fall into “sympathetic mesmerism,” because then we unwittingly make a reality out of evil. When she said this I immediately saw that to practice Christian Science we MUST see the unreality of evil and be unimpressed by it. And of course the way we do this is by realizing the allness of God, good. I can’t say I’m “there” yet, but I do believe it’s something important to work toward…it’s really the essence of our practice, I think.

[A.m.yParticipant]

Inge and jazzrascal —

Thank you. This is really important and often not easy to follow through on. I’m working on it. :)

[Annette-DModerator]

I think we should always have compassion, but we should never sympathize w/ error. There’s a difference. You can offer lovingkindness, w/out believing the suggestion. To the patient, the claim is very real. The highest sense of love is to see God’s perfection and therefore, man’s perfection. There’s no coldness in that. Love that is the expression of divine Love is strong, firm, kind and comforting. All of that together.

There’s nothing loving about pity or sympathy. I’m sure the person who is struggling has plenty of avenues to receive those things! But, they may only have you that’s standing on the side of reality w/ God.

Do you remember that part in the story of Jesus raising Lazarus where he wept? I have looked at that so many times. He understood what his dear friends were feeling about Lazarus. He probably patted them, and hugged them, and then he raised Lazarus. He knew that all that fuss didn’t change the identity of Lazarus. I love that story so much. There’s a lot there.

Thanks for being willing to think through all this together. I love it!

[AmyRioModerator]

I think we should always have compassion, but we should never sympathize w/ error. There’s a difference. You can offer lovingkindness, w/out believing the suggestion. To the patient, the claim is very real. The highest sense of love is to see God’s perfection and therefore, man’s perfection. There’s no coldness in that. Love that is the expression of divine Love is strong, firm, kind and comforting. All of that together.

There’s nothing loving about pity or sympathy. I’m sure the person who is struggling has plenty of avenues to receive those things! But, they may only have you that’s standing on the side of reality w/ God.

Annette, thanks for posting this…after I posted I realized I probably should have said something about compassion, so it wouldn’t sound like we are cold and indifferent, because we’re not!

[Annette-DModerator]

As a side note, just doing prayerful work for others, it’s helped me a lot to absolutely refuse to feel responsible for someone’s well being. I don’t know how false responsibility really fits into this discussion, but God would never ask anyone to fix His idea. He loves His idea, and maintains it in all of its glory forever. We’re never going to get a call from someone less than whole.

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