Everlasting Punishment

Everlasting Punishment 11-1-09 Sara Lincoln

The highest and best description of God is

The lowest and saddest description of God is

We learned more about the Psalms last week. What do you remember?
Some Psalms are songs of thanks and joy.
Some Psalms are cries of complaint: O God, when are you going to help me? Ps. 77:7-9.

While h__________ c___________ is thanking and complaining, hoping and worrying, what is d_______¬¬¬___ c_________________ doing? Ps. 85: 8 and Ps. 86: 5.

Christian Science is a Christly view of what’s going on, the view that Jesus had and held on to. Creator-God does things right. And then what happens? Does Creation-Man do things wrong? ____ When did Creator lose control of Creation? ______
‘Christian’ is attached to the word ‘Science’ because Science is the Christ inviting us to know and prove that Creator-Creation is g_______.

What is a sport you like? ______ Does it include lots of knowledge and skill and fun for those who play it? If you are practicing, proving, and improving the skills you have and also learning new skills, does that make you a scientist? How does the dictionary define *science ________________________________________________
*scientist ____________________________________________
The scientific Christian (or Christian Scientist) practices and proves and improves her understanding of Creator-Creation. How long will the scientist be doing this? ______
Is this ‘scientific investigation’ everlasting? _____SH 470:21-23.

The Psalmist, like the Christian and Christian Scientist, tells himself to wake up and sing and be certain of good. “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be s______________ when I awake, with thy _____________.”
Ps. 17: 15.

Your ‘soul’ is what makes you YOU! Does it want to think bad, do bad, feel bad? ____ Does it want to punish others? _____ Soul is a name for ______. Does Soul want to punish? _____ Why not?
So is it OK to think bad, do bad, and feel bad since God does not punish? _____

Sin punishes itself, and seems to punish the person who expects to ignore God and try, like a mad scientist, to prove that ‘sinful’ is the nature of man. What is sin?

Sin is the lazy, incorrect, harmful belief that ……
Is sin necessary? _____ Science and Health tells us that sin’s ‘necessity’ is to __________ _________. SH 405: 5. Punishment for tolerating sin is not everlasting.
The punishment stops when the sin stops.

Did God send His Son into the world to punish sinners? ______
Christ Jesus did not come to _________ ____ ________but to save it. John 3: 17.

But what if a person deliberately breaks God’s law against lying, stealing, killing, or coveting? Should that person be punished? ______
Jesus met a lot of people who were guilty of these things. What did he do when the Pharisees showed him a woman who had been ‘caught in the act’ of doing wrong?
Let’s read John 8: 1-11. Did Jesus punish her? _____ Why? ……….
Jesus was the Comforter and promised to send another comforter. What comforter did he send that is always present, always restoring and multiplying peace and joy and power? _____

Divine Love does not punish. Love c__________ and g__________ man. SH 6: 3.
It is not OK to sin and be sorry over and over again! Our wise Father-Mother God established a great way to destroy ‘sin’. Science and Health says it is “to cause ____________ as the result of s______ …SH 6: 11-12. After you are sorry for sin, you need to scientifically d__________ sin by knowing that God never made it.

The tenets or main points about Christian Science are at the end of the chapter called R______________, which means ‘summary.’ One of our tenets talks about sin and punishment. What are your own words for the third tenet? ………….

Should you be honest and kind because you might be punished if you are not?______
Why should you be, why are you, honest and kind? …………..

One time when Christ Jesus was healing a paralyzed person (he had the palsy). Jesus said, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.” Luke 5: 20. What Jesus said made the Pharisees very angry! This is blasphemy they said! What is blasphemy? ___________________
Only God can forgive sins, they said, but Jesus corrected them. Jesus said that the
“Son ____ ______” does have power to forgive sins. Luke 5: 24. Jesus wiped away the ‘sin,’ the wrong thoughts or false beliefs, then the physical healing took place.
Can you ‘forgive sins’? What does the Lord’s Prayer say? ______________________

You are not the son-daughter of a mortal woman/man, but are you a ‘daughter/son of God’? ____ I John 3: 2 says “_______ are _____ the sons of _______” Does the Scientific Statement of Being say that you are the son/daughter of God? ____
It says you are _____________. SH 468.

Where is the kingdom of God? ______
Does this perfect place of perfect order include sin? ______ punishment? ______.
“Divine Love is infinite. Therefore all that really exists is ____ and _____ God, and manifests His ________.” SH 340: 12. Everything real is a manifestation of God.
Where does it say that you are manifestation? _______

Creator-Love does not accuse or punish its Loved-Creation.
Truth-God is always correcting and comforting, but never punishing!

Probation After Death

Probation After Death 10-25-09 Sara Lincoln

When does death happen? _________ Does life end? __________
The Psalmist was aware of a dark shadow on his path, the valley of the shadow of death. Ps. 23: 4. He decided not to be afraid. Because of that decision, he became even more aware of help at hand: a rod and a staff.
Every shepherd used his rod to defend the sheep against _________.
He used his staff to guide and control the __________.
In what ways is God a rod and a staff for us?..............
God _______________me. God _______________ me.
The Psalmist put it this way: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.”
Ps. 37: 23.

Because the Psalmist knew that he was being protected and guided, he saw a much brighter path. Instead of dark shadow, he saw abundance of food, drink, and safety that his enemies could not steal. In his expanding view of God as the great Shepherd (Defender and Guide) he could see that kindness and love (goodness and mercy) would be with him every day (all the days of his life) and that he actually lived in God’s house. Is that were you live? ______ No matter where you live now, or may live 20 years from now, you always LIVE in your _______________.
Your ‘house’ is your _______________.

Does death have a consciousness? ______
Will you still be conscious and living 200 years from now? ______ Where? __________
When does h_________ c____________ yield to d_________ c______________? _____
“One moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual understanding of Life and Love,
is a foretaste of eternity.” SH 598: 23-24

The Psalmist is grateful that the Lord ‘anoints his head with oil.’ Where in Science and Health would you find the spiritual significance of ‘oil’? __________
Who is speaking in Psalm 23? ________
Did this same person write many Psalms:? ______ How do you know? ………….

Our textbook says, “Life is deathless. Life is the origin and ultimate of man; never attainable through death, but gained by walking in the pathway of Truth both before and after that which is called death.” SH 487: 3-6. How did you put this in your own words?

People started writing down their prayers and songs (Psalms) about ________ years ago, from ca ________ BC to ca________ BC. Let’s get our answers from The Bible Time Line published by the Christian Science Publishing Society.

There are ________ Psalms in our Bible. Some tell the history of the Hebrews, a history which began with what man? ____________ See Gen. 17: 1, 2, 4, 5.


There are 365 days in a year and Enoch lived 365 years on earth. Then did Enoch die?__
What happened? See Gen. 5: 23-24.
Enoch did not go through ‘probation’ (a time of testing). There was no ‘after death’ because Enoch did not die. He did not believe in the ‘evidence before his material senses’ Enoch __________ ______ _______. SH 214: 5.

Would this statement also be true: Jesus walked with God, and he was not, for God took him? ______ Mark 16: 19

Science and Health says, “The divine demand, ‘Be ye therefore perfect,’ is scientific, and the human footsteps leading to perfection are indispensable…God requires perfection, but not until the battle between Spirit and flesh is fought and the victory won.” SH 253: 32-8.
Why does Mary Baker Eddy call this demand scientific? …………..

What is a ‘contract’? …………
Do God and man have a contract? _______ In the Bible, a contract is called a covenant. The first covenant was between God and the man_________. After the flood which destroyed much of the world known to the Hebrews, Noah thanked God that he and his family and his animals had not drowned. Then God made a covenant with Noah.
Gen. 9: 11, 13.What was the covenant?........

Did Jesus make a covenant with his disciples and with us? _____
In the following examples, what is the responsibility of each party to the covenant:
*Jesus said, ‘whosoever believeth in me shall never die.’ John 11: 25-26
*He also said, ‘ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:’ Matt. 7: 7
*He also said, ‘…he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
________ ____ ________.’ John 8: 12

The name of the man Jesus raised from the dead was __________. As Jesus prayed at the tomb, the first thing he said was “…Father, _____ ______ ______ that thou hast heard me.” John 11: 41.
Christian Science explains that “Jesus restored _________ by the understanding that ________ had never died, not by an admission that his body had died and then lived again. SH 75: 12-20.


What did you find out today about
Consciousness __________________________________________
The Psalms ____________________________________________
Enoch ______________________________________________
Covenant ______________________________________________
Probation _______________________________________________

Doctrine of Atonement

Doctrine of Atonement 10-18-09 Sara Lincoln

What is a ‘doctrine’? _________________
In Jewish and Christian history, ‘atonement’ was a way of describing how Jesus, the innocent, let himself be crucified so that mortal man, the guilty, would be spared, not killed, for his evil thoughts and actions. Does this definition of ‘atonement’ describe God’s control of His Son, sons, and daughters?
God and Christ Jesus give us a true meaning. Atonement must mean the at-one-ment planned by the perfect Creator God for His / Her perfect Creation, man.
Are you and I ‘perfect creation man’? ______
Every Sunday, we hear the fact again, “All is i_________ M_______ and its i_________ m_____________. SH page _______.

Do you and I also need to learn what this means, to be at-one with God as Her manifestation? ______As human consciousness grows and expands year by year, it learns how to yield to divine consciousness. We learn that the human view isn’t good enough and that the divine view is natural.

While he was on earth, did Christ Jesus learn how to turn away from the human view and yield to God’s view? _____What did the Apostle Paul say in his letter to the Hebrews, chapter 5: 8-9: “Though he were a Son, yet learned he o_________ by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” What word could you substitute for ‘salvation’? _______________

What are some main examples of Jesus ‘turning away from the human view and yielding to God’s view’?
He did that big time when he, the innocent, was called guilty and put on the cross. While he was on the cross, what did he ask God to do to the Jews and Romans who were trying to kill him? _____________________________________. Luke 23:34
Maybe Mary Baker Eddy was thinking of that when she wrote her poem Christ My Refuge. Jesus was not afraid of the cross. He said, “I kiss the cross and wake to know a world more bright.” Hymn 253

Christ Jesus felt so at-one with his Father-Mother that he wasted no time thinking he was separate. He meant it when he said, ‘I and my Father are one. I do the works of my Father and my Father does good works as me.’

Tell us about a time you felt at-one, cared for and protected by your Mother-Father.
It might have been a time when your mom and dad helped you out at a difficult time.

The Apostle Paul urges us to “…be reconciled to God.” II Cor. 5: 20 be.
Maybe that could mean ‘go with God’s plan. Forget your own plan.’

You submitted a poem for publication in the Christian Science Sentinel – your plan,
and the editor is suggesting that you revise your poem. Could that be God’s plan?

I, wo-man, love God’s good plan. There is, however a rumor of an additional mind, called mortal mind, full of its own selfish desires and insisting on its own limited plan.
I do not listen to rumors, do you? ______
There’s a couplet (two lines) in the Lord’s Prayer where Jesus warns his followers not to be led astray by rumors. Which two lines? …………..
There are other ways to describe rumor, for example Heb. 13: 9: ____ ____ ____ ____.
Also SH 316: 3: “…lose sight of __________ _______________”
and SH 286:1: “…belief in a ________ ________.”

Did you ever have a pet you loved? Did you make it suffer? ______
If it was a dog, maybe it was given ‘obedience training.’ Did the dog suffer during obedience training? ____ What happened to the dog, and its owner, during this training?

Why is the atonement ‘a hard problem in theology’? SH 23: 7.
Perhaps it’s because most people in the special field of God study (theo-ology) believe that man is a sinner, separated from God. Did God create or permit sinners? _____
The Science that belongs to all theology (God study) says, ‘You can do this. You can believe that Jesus was being practical when he said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Where in Matthew is this command? _______
You are at-one with your Creator and you will get to prove this scientifically many times.

Christ Jesus did not come to earth to show people how sinful they were. So why did he come? “Christ came to destroy ____ _______ of sin.” SH 473: 6-7. Why didn’t he come to destroy sin? ……………..

Do you remember what happened in Jerusalem at the pool called Bethseda? John 5: 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 14. The man went to the temple after he was healed, perhaps to thank God. Jesus found him in the temple. What did Jesus tell him? See verse 14
Jesus said, ‘sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.’ Did he mean ‘give up the sin of believing you are a limited man, separate from God’? _____
Jesus and the man knew the meaning of that command ‘sin no more.’ I think maybe Jesus wanted that man to claim his dominion, his at-one-ment with God. What do you think Jesus wanted that man to start doing and stop doing?

Maybe Jesus said to that man (and Christ Jesus definitely tells us) there are four things each of us must do to show that we are children of our Father-Mother God. Matt. 5: 44-45:
1 3
2 4

We are God’s image and ________. We are at-one with God, but we can know what this means only as we know the life and teachings of Christ Jesus. Was Jesus a Scientist? ______He proved what is true and dismissed what is untrue. SH 19: 6.
Are you a Scientist? ____ How do you know? …………
I am at-one with G____, my n__________, and my________

Are Sin, Disease, and Death Real?

Are Sin, Disease, and Death Real? 10-11-09 Sara Lincoln

Did Mary Baker Eddy know the answer to this question? ____
Why did she ask it?
We have 26 subjects we study twice a year. Can you name any of them?
There is one other Bible Lesson that asks a question: Is the Universe…..

Do you think Christ Jesus ever asked either of these questions? ____
Jesus knew that many people around him believed that sin, sickness, and death were real, and so his words and works focused on the facts: none of these ungodlike conditions is true, or could be true. Why can’t sin, sickness, and death be true? ……
Who else says that sin, sickness, and death cannot be true? _____________

The Gospel of Luke gives us many examples of Jesus’ words and works.
What error or lie about God and man did Jesus contradict and reverse in the following settings?
Luke 4: 38-40
Luke 7: 12-16
Luke 17: 12-19
Luke 8: 27-28, 30-35

The Psalmist also declared his confidence that the Creator God did not create things that are the opposite of God. In Ps. 9, he said, “When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.” Ps. 9: 3. What enemies? …….

In another Psalm, she said, “He prepareth a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” What Psalm is this? _________
Is this Psalm also in Science and Health? ____
On page 578, Mary Baker Eddy offers an inspiring interpretation, for example
“________ _______ is my shepherd.”
“________ prepareth a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.”

Is there anything that could make sin, sickness, and death disappear? ______
Science and Health says these enemies need to be understood ____ ________. 480:26- 2
“With its divine proof, Science _________the evidence of material sense.” SH 215: 22

Jesus reversed the evidence of material sense and healed people. What a wonderful proof of God’s (________) presence, (________) power, (_________) knowledge, and (________) action. See definition of Good in the Glossary.

Did everyone appreciate what Jesus did, his power to heal? ____ Why?

Today, does everyone appreciate Christian Science for its power to heal? ____ Why?



Is it your duty and purpose in life to receive healing and offer healing truths to others?
Can you tell us about a healing you are a witness to? ……….

Then and now, it takes certain qualities of thought to experience Christ-healing. These are qualities that bless and bring blessing, for example, humility, o__________, mercy, p__________ and peace-making. Jesus talked about these qualities in Matthew ______.

Is there anything God cannot do or make? _____
Does infinite Mind experience sin, sickness, and death? _____ Does its manifestation? __
SH 356: 19 says God cannot e___________ or p_____________ sin, sickness, and death.

Something is called ‘a god’ if people f_______ it or w__________ it.
Why does Mrs. Eddy call sin, sickness, and death p__________ g______? SH 347: 23

Many television ads encourage us to trust d_______. What’s the danger? …….

“Man is not the offspring of ______, but of ______, ---of Life, not of matter.”
SH 289: 31

When sin, sickness, or death seem real to us, we can pray. As we pray we can think and say words like these:
Teach me to do thy will
I am thy servant; I do thy will
Create in me a clean heart
I will listen for thy voice
I am one of your perfect ideas
I thank you God for being All-in-all
What are some words you say as you pray? ……….

Before, during, and after our prayer, God, Love, gives us thoughts like these:
I have saved you and you are my witness
I have called you by name and you are mine
You are my loved son and daughter
I have put a new song in your mouth
I am the Lord and there is none else; there is no other god called sin, sickness, or death
I, Spirit, created you; you are a spiritual idea including all right ideas
What does God say to you? …………..