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record of a material creation which followed the spiritual,
- a creation so wholly apart from God's, that Spirit
had no participation in it. In God's creation
ideas became productive, obedient to Mind.
There was no rain and "not a man to till the ground."
Mind, instead of matter, being the producer, Life was
self-sustained. Birth, decay, and death arise from the
material sense of things, not from the spiritual, for in
the latter Life consisteth not of the things which a man
eateth. Matter cannot change the eternal fact that
man exists because God exists. Nothing is new to the
infinite Mind.
(First evil suggestion)
In Science, Mind neither produces matter nor does
matter produce mind. No mortal mind has the might
or right or wisdom to create or to destroy.
All is under the control of the one Mind,
even God. The first statement about evil, - the first
suggestion of more than the one Mind, - is in the fable
of the serpent. The facts of creation, as previously recorded,
include nothing of the kind.
(Material personality)
The serpent is supposed to say, "Ye shall be as gods,"
but these gods must be evolved from materiality and be
the very antipodes of immortal and spiritual
being. Man is the likeness of Spirit, but a
material personality is not this likeness. Therefore man,
in this allegory, is neither a lesser god nor the image and
likeness of the one God.
Material, erroneous belief reverses understanding and
truth. It declares mind to be in and of matter, so-called
mortal life to be Life, infinity to enter man's nostrils
so that matter becomes spiritual. Error begins with
corporeality as the producer instead of divine Principle,
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