Working with evangelical Christians who often fear & oppose CS

Friends,

Recent posts pertaining to inter-communication between and betwixt
students of Christian Science and those of our brethren who are
momentarily identified as Christian evangelicals and
fundamentalists, have re-instilled in me a keen desire to return,
once again, with joyous expectancy, to our sacred Scriptures, for
insights and realizations that prior to Christian Science, were
heretofore unknown. All the while remembering full well that, when
pressed by the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Herodians to address
and resolve an enigmatic perplexity, our Master first responded,
"Why tempt ye me?" and then asked, "Do ye not therefore err,
because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?"

Recently, when speaking with an Episcopalian priest about the
Master's Ascension, he responded, in effect, "I am not at all
comfortable with the idea of Jesus disappearing." "Well, neither am
I," I replied, and went on to say, "nor were the men of Galilee
who, after having gathered on the hillside to hear the Master
speak, watched in awe as "a cloud received him out of their sight"
Acts 1:9. To all of those earthly witnesses left standing there
"gazing up into heaven," the Master had just "disappeared!" Yet,
did Jesus' `disappearance' constitute his dissolution and
discontinuation? Did Jesus cease to exist when he ceased to be
seen?

Let's consider, as did I with my Episcopalian friend, what Paul
writes about the sacred event, . . . "while they beheld, he [Christ
Jesus] was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Moreover, while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went
up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also
said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this
same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come
in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."

We have just touched the "Plymouth Rock" of Christian Biblical
fundamentalism upon the shore-line of scholastic theology which
interprets this Scripture, literally, to mean that Christ Jesus
will, at some unknown time in the future, reappear again a second
time here upon earth. How? Well, "in like manner as ye have
seen him go into heaven."

Christian Science, however, focuses an entirely different light
upon this Scripture -– an illumination of such radiant profundity
that it naturally gives rise within consciousness to the
development of spiritual discernment and understanding. Such an
afflatus settles, with divine authorization, the question on the
minds of all humanity regarding whether there is a post-earthly
preservation and continuation of individual conscious identity!

The four Gospels hold the chronicle of the earthly life, teachings
and works of Jesus, of Nazareth, from the time of his arrival in
Bethlehem as an infant to the time of his Ascension at Mt. Olivet
at age thirty-three. At each epochal occurrence of the Master's
earthly sojourn, we read of attending angels that appear at each
occasion. Just prior to Jesus' earthly appearance, an angel
appeared to Joseph informing him that "that which is conceived in
her [Mary] is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name JESUS."

At Jesus' natal hour, a summoning angel appeared to shepherds who
were "abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by
night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory
of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And
the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is
born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the
Lord. And this [shall be] a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe
wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God,
and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good
will toward men."

In the Garden of Gethsemene, when "alone with his own being and the
reality of things", an angel appeared to "strengthen" Jesus. And
when, at the pool of Bethesda and surrounded by "a great multitude
of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving
of the water," an angel troubled the pool's water converting it
into the "healing balm of Gilead," and, "whosoever then first . . .
. stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had."

Three days following his crucifixion, "the angel of the Lord
descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the
door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his
raiment WHITE AS SNOW: . . . And the angel answered and said unto
the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was
crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see
the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his
disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth
before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told
you."

Do not these Scriptures constitute justifiable precedence to look,
at the time of Jesus' Ascension, for the appearance of an angelic
presence? They most assuredly do! And, behold, when reading of the
Master's Ascension, what through the eyes of Paul do we see? We
see, "two men stood by them [the men of Galilee] [dressed] "in
WHITE apparel!"

A fact, well known, is that the garb worn not only by the
Galilaeans, but also, by all peoples in the regions round about,
were fashions fabricated of sack cloth –– a coarse, dark cloth of
goats' or camels' hair. The distinguishing "white apparel" that was
worn by the two assuring messengers identifies them, not as men of
the earth, earthy, but rather, as "angel" visitants from the
heavenly realm, reappearing upon earth to once again deliver, "good
tidings of great joy!"

What message, precisely, did the two angels convey to a bewildered
and grief stricken humanity at the very moment when the Lord and
Saviour of all mankind had just up, and, "disappeared?"

To understand the "good tidings of great joy" that was spoken to
the Galilaeans some two-thousand years ago, and that, today,
re-echoes within the hearts and minds of all of His sheep, one must
first identify from what state or stage of consciousness the
angelic message was/is being uttered!

The angelic message didn't come from a man of the earthly realm,
but rather, it came directly from two angels who had descended from
within the heavenly realm to appear here upon earth to bring
reassuring comfort to those who believed themselves bereft of their
Lord and Saviour! This being the case, to be understood, the
angelic message must not be interpreted `literally' as it
conceivably may mean here upon earth, but rather, `spiritually' as
it most assuredly does mean in heaven! And, Christian Science is
what divinity gave to humanity to enable the Scriptures to receive
their heavenly interpretation of that being both revealed and made
understandable, right here and right now, upon earth!

God, divine Mind, revealed to Mary Baker Eddy, the truth that,
"Divine Science is not an interpolation of the Scriptures, it is
redolent with health, holiness, and love. It only needs the prism
of divine Science, which scholastic theology has obscured, to
divide the rays of Truth, and bring out the entire hues of God. The
lens of Science magnifies the divine power to human sight; and we
then see the allness of Spirit, therefore the nothingness of
matter."

Let us subject what the two in "WHITE APPAREL" said to the
Galileans at the moment Christ Jesus "disappeared." They began
with a question; namely, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up
into heaven?" Having engaged their attention, they delivered the
following comforting assurance, "this SAME Jesus, which is taken up
from you into heaven, shall so come. . "

"Come where?" . . . the Galileans wondered . . . .

"Well," answered the angels, "come into heaven!"

"And how shall this come about," the Galileans queried?

"In like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven!"

Here, then, is positive Scriptural instruction that confirms the
irrefutable fact that the individual identity known to and beloved
by the world, and who was named JESUS, although no longer visible
to those still identified as "earth-bound," continued to progress
spiritually onward, uninterrupted and undisturbed as the same
IDENTICAL, or "SELF-SAME" identity as attested by the heavenly
angel visitants, who knew and identified the SAME Jesus whom humans
beheld being raised up, the angels within the heavenly realm beheld
this identical Jesus coming into heaven! In a word, the heavenly
angels beheld the arrival of the SAME Jesus whom those in Galilee
beheld rising up and "disappearing" as he departed their sight when
leaving earth!

Now, and forever, by the holy Grace of our Father-Mother God and
their sacred Christ Jesus and Christ Science, may we all, "sanctify
the Lord God in [our] hearts: and [be] ready always to [give] an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in
you with meekness and fear!" Now we have Scriptural evidentiary
proof of the eternal and perpetual preservation and continuation of
individual conscious identity both before and after that
"parenthesis in eternity" –– that trip between the womb and the
tomb that we identify as being our earthly life and existence!

It is we within that "pair-in-thesis" [the birth-death syndrome]
who saw the eternal Christ manifest and "appear" here, upon earth,
within the visible realm, as the baby Jesus, and then, as the
thirty-three year old Jesus, ascend, and "disappear" upon earth
when returning to heaven to be one of the "two witnesses . . .
standing before the God of the earth."

Christian Science further reveals, "Jesus' true and conscious being
never left heaven for earth. It abode forever above, even while
mortals believed it was here. He once spoke of himself (John 3:13)
as "the Son of man which is in heaven," — remarkable words, as
wholly opposed to the popular view of Jesus' nature." It is
precisely this Christianly scientific view, not only about Christ
Jesus, but about every son and daughter of our Father-Mother God
that every "honest seeker for Truth," is desiring with all their
heart and soul to both assimilate, and then, through the Grace of
God's sacred Science, to demonstrate!

I hope these ideas are comforting and helpful to anyone who is ever
called upon to redress that scholastic theological
misinterpretation regarding Jesus Christ's second reappearance here
upon earth, for truly, neither Christ Jesus nor anyone else for
that matter, ever "disappears!"

In Unity of Good,

David James Nolan, Chairman
United Christian Scientists, Inc.

1.888.592.4215