WHAT DOES DIVINE SCIENCE TEACH?
Many Christian churches believe that God is Omnipotent (all powerful), Omniscient (all knowing) and Omnipresent (everywhere present). Divine Science heartily agrees but emphasizes Omnipresence and it’s all encompassing meaning, more than other faiths. If you believe that God is everywhere, then it stands to reason that God is within you. Since what He is is never separate from His presence, which is everywhere, then all His qualities are everywhere. We see God as that universal Energy that is perfect Wisdom, Love, Life, Truth, Understanding, Peace and Goodness. If God and all He is is in us, then all these spiritual qualities are in us, too.
Genesis 1:26 reads, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Divine Science teaches that there is a non-physical dimension in everyone that is the image of God, and is endowed with a full complement of divine qualities and powers. Life, and all its challenges, presents an ongoing opportunity to discover and express what we really are – spiritual beings having a human experience. Our true identity is God’s image – God’s child. When we begin to see ourselves in that light, life takes on a vastly new look. We live in a “friendly” universe. We already have the strengths and abilities to create and attract a life experience that is fulfilling and meaningful and that gives us an opportunity to be a source of blessings to others. One of the greatest appeals of Divine Science is its ability to change your view of yourself from an ordinary, struggling person to a unique, exceptional one. Since one’s self-image becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, when we really see ourselves as unlimited, as having access to answers to our questions and solutions to our problems, we live with greater expectation of good and a deeper connection with the source of that good – God.
A Divine Scientist believes that there are universal spiritual laws. If we live in harmony with these laws, we experience harmony in our lives. Because God gave us consciousness, wisdom and plain good sense to use in every aspect of our lives, especially our religious beliefs, we never expect blind faith from someone who has become interested in our teachings. We just ask people to try these ideas – try these methods of practical, positive thinking and living and prove to themselves, through their own experiences, that these spiritual principles work!
Divine Science doesn’t believe in hell or eternal damnation. How could a God of love create such a place? If God the Good is everywhere, where could it exist? The only hell that exists is a state of mind where negative thoughts and emotions reign supreme. Why does God allow terrible things to happen? We have all been given free will, and that includes the freedom to misuse our opportunities and abilities. But even when we misuse them, God’s unconditional love is still ours. We are never punished FOR our sins. We are punished BY our sins. God never punishes us. Negative acts simply have negative results. Jesus Christ, the greatest spiritual teacher the world has ever known, came to teach us a method of thinking and living that connects us with a sense of God’s presence and the experience of Divinely created good.
Finally, our goal is to have an ever deeper sense of our oneness with God that leads to the experience of illumination – directly knowing God, Himself. We will come to see the world and everything in it as God-in-action, a Divine process toward greater order and good and each will be participants in knowing it, experiencing it and bringing that good forth for others.