The Second Commandment – Q&A #6

The Second Commandment

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image”

Question: If the Bible says that we are made in God’s “image and likeness,” why doesn’t God look and act like us?

Answer: That is exactly what mortal mind would want us to think — that God is like mortal
man, with a material body. But this is a big lie about God, Spirit, and His creation, which is
spiritual. Mary Baker Eddy explains:

“In the beginning God created man in His, God’s image; but mortals would procreate man, and make God in their own human image. What is the god of a mortal, but a mortal magnified?” (S&H 140)

“The everlasting I AM is not bounded nor compressed within the narrow limits of physical humanity, nor can He be understood aright through mortal concepts. The precise form of God must be of small importance in comparison with the sublime question, What is infinite Mind or divine Love?” (S&H 256)

“Mortal thought transmits its own images, and forms its offspring after human illusions. God, Spirit, works spiritually, not materially. Brain or matter never formed a human concept.”  (S&H 259)

We must not look to mortal mind for a description of God. We learn what God is like through our study of the Bible and Science and Health, and the fresh views we get directly from God in prayer.

Further Study: Today, look up the “Glossary” definition of God on page 587 of the textbook. Choose one of the words describing God. Think about what that term shows us of the nature of God.

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(Excerpted from “First Lessons in Christian Science, Volume One: The Ten Commandments”
Copyright 2001)

 

Next:  The Second Commandment – Q&A #7

List of all pages and lessons in Volume One: The Ten Commandments