| Home | Listen to this article | Return to Articles |
 previous / next
article |
Adultery is ImpossibleThe Ten Commandments constitute God's law regarding His relationship to the ideal man - His one image and likeness. Mankind tends to take a limited personal view of the second through the ninth commandments and see them as merely behavioral rules. This view is not wrong; it is just the first step in Christ's method. The first and great Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," sets the standard for all the rest of the commandments by identifying God's authorship and absolute jurisdiction over His spiritual creation (Ex 20:3). God's law never diverges from Himself, for there is only one Ego and, therefore, only one self. Each of the subsequent commandments explains an aspect of the first, like looking at each color of the rainbow separately in order to understand the idea of whole clear light. We might hear Christ's explanation of what God commands in this way: 'I Am Original, Love. I am the parent of all the love that has ever been experienced. To understand true pleasure is to understand Me. You cannot hide from my pleasure, steal it, borrow it, imitate it, claim it as your own, or adulterate it, for you are my pleasure, and you belong to Me - you live within my law. Infinite manifestation is my singular identity. You are all magnificently individual; I have no favorites. I am Father-Mother; honor Me. I Am Life. I am Truth. I Am Love. You have no choice in this matter; there is no alternative - no other. You do not dwell in darkness, for there is none; you are my radiance.' For those who have doubts and fears, Christ continues His lesson. 'Be patient. Wait for the spirit of universal love to rest upon you. I will not leave you comfortless. If you have tried to create your own world, you have been alone, vacillating between opinions, unsure of your way, having no fixity. "The Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it" (Job 1:7). This is a picture of a pseudo-man who believes he is detached from Principle. Whatever you attempt outside of my pleasure will take you further away from my joy. At some point in the pursuit of your disastrous plan, you will find neither rest nor peace, and you will begin to search for another way. Then you will discover that I am right here, ready to end sickness, famine, poverty, crime, hatred, jealousy, lust, hypocrisy, and death. Please do not judge yourself for all your years of accumulated mistakes. Sin is a fantasy, a dream from which you will awaken. Virgin purity is God's nature, so virginity is a permanent fact of your being. Guilt cripples progress. There is no punishment for past sin. It is present sin that demands punishment, for without some indicator of making a mistake you would never find your way out of it. Repentance prepares the heart for restoration. Genuine, pure love for all mankind restores your perfect relationship with Me. Abide as Me. Live my life, and you will not get tired of living or have a desire to possess persons or things anymore. My abundance is yours to share.' Jesus explained the generous conditions of a resurrected life to his disciples. Note the difference between what must be given up in this world and what will be restored a hundredfold. "No man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life" (Mark 10:29?30). Two terms are missing from resurrection consciousness: father and wife; one term is added: persecutions. When the divine Principle of the First
Commandment is understood, there is no longer any human fathering.
Creation is God's business. The command to "call no man
your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is
in heaven" restates the First Commandment (Matt 23:9). Human
mothering will also vanish since humanity cannot self-conceive,
"for in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given
in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven" (Matt
22:30). Mrs. Eddy's definition of bride sums up woman's
proper state and function: "BRIDE. Purity and innocence,
conceiving man in the idea of God; a sense of Soul, which has
spiritual bliss and enjoys but cannot suffer" (SH 582:14).
Fear and doubt will cause you to resist gaining knowledge of your true sonship, but error has no tools to fight with except your imagination. God cannot be adulterated and neither
can His image and likeness; this
is the meaning of the Seventh Commandment. George Denninger © |
| Home | Listen to this article | Return to Articles |
previous / next
article |