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Celebrate Freedom-giving GEMs (& applications) to forever bless you with spiritual sense!
Let God Expressed Meekly/Mightily in you sparkle with insights from Cobbey Crisler, Ken Cooper & others as found in The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on

“God”
for July 5, 2020

We celebrated the following Freedom-giving GEMs and more during this uniquely different 4th of July week here at CedarS! Today, while we missed celebrating it with our normal treasure of lots of precious campers onsite, we loved finding deeper meaning in our normal traditions – like a Freedom Ride by Wranglers carrying four, large USA flags streaming behind them; Wade’s phenomenal BBQ feast; an evening Freedom Talk by Christy Hanzlik, CS, followed by a great firework display over the lake. Our amazing, full staff of best-yet counselors and CITs just completed a two-week quarantine of quality precamp training and certifications and are ready to give their all for the next 2 weeks to give long-distance love & spiritual sense to 100+ Online campers—including Virtual Musical Theater campers! Click HERE for program descriptions. We can’t wait to entertain over 100 campers ONLINE from 1st grade thru 12th, from coast to coast and from 7 different countries—BUT THERE’S ROOM FOR A FEW MORE! Click to enroll and Apply to The Campership Fund as needed. And, if the lack of a device or bandwidth seems to be an issue, you are hereby invited to join lead donors to help us bridge the so-called “digital divide.”


GEM#1 from Paul: Share your Christianity in ways that interest your audience!
Cobbey Crisler insights on the context of Paul’s words to the Athenians in Acts 17
(Responsive Reading and Science & Health citation S15, 428:15-19): “Well, now Paul is heading for the cultural capital of civilization, Athens. And you can’t even go to modern day Athens without appreciating somewhat of what Paul saw, looking around at the remnants of that great city and “the columned buildings that were dedicated to so many gods. It must have moved Paul.” …

“And so, he opens his mouth and begins right away to talk in Athens. Now this is a tough area in which to introduce Christianity, except at least they were willing to listen because everybody talked about anything. I mean there were a lot of weirdo sects and ideas that they welcomed without question in Athens because everybody liked to dispute these ideas anyway.

“He’s in the market, the agora, as well as in the synagogue. He runs into Epicureans; he runs into Stoics.” Now Tarsus where Paul came from happens to be a Stoic stronghold. So, he must have been certainly aware of that philosophy…

“They bring him to Areopagus, the hill of Mars or Aries, and they asked him to explain what he has to say.” …

Acts 17:22  Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

Paul, standing there, shows how a lecture can be tailor-made to any environment. And, it’s better than uniformity if you want to get the ear of the locals. And in this way, you will find at no point does Paul mention the Old Testament. Why? (Pause) What would that mean to the Athenians? (See below, Acts 17:23, paraphrased)

Instead, he kind of says, “On my way to the forum…you know. In other words, here I was, and I saw something you had back here. And, it says TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” (See Acts 17:23 and S15, p. 428:15) …

“Would everybody be listening? It relates. He’s picked up something locally. And, would you also be listening if he said “That monument you put ‘TO THE UNKNOWN GOD’, I want to tell you a little something about him. He’s unknown to you, but here’s some information that might be helpful… “And then, in Acts 17, verse 24, he describes “that God who made all, and therefore, couldn’t dwell in temples made with hands.” …

We’re reminded of whom? Yes, but since Jesus, we heard that from Stephen, remember? As Saul, himself, he had heard that.

“He dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” (repeated paraphrased)

What do you think that comment does when you’re looking at the Parthenon and buildings like it? “God doesn’t dwell in all of this. He made everything. How can you contain Him?” … Very interesting point.

Have we even arrived at that point today in our thinking? … I doubt the Athenians had either.

“The search where God is…” will end up with the conclusion in the last line of Acts 17, verse 27, “that He’s not very far from every one of us.” And then Paul very cleverly introduces lines from local poets: “In him we live, and move, and have our being” and “for we are also his offspring” – parts of poems we have identified, and they even know the authors. (See below, partial)

Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being**; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

“After the Master, What? The Book of Acts,by B. Cobbey Crisler**

**Mary Baker Eddy on Paul’s words in Athens (Responsive Reading, Acts 17:28):
“St. Paul said to the Athenians, “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” This statement is in substance identical with my own: “There is no life, truth, substance, nor intelligence in matter.” It is quite clear that this great verity has not yet been fully demonstrated, but it is nevertheless true. If Christian Science reiterates Paul’s teaching, we, as Christian Scientists, should give to the world convincing proof of the validity of this scientific statement of being. Having perceived, in advance of others, this scientific fact, we owe to ourselves and to the world a struggle for its demonstration.”
“Retrospection and Introspection,”
by Mary Baker Eddy, page 93: 17


GEM#2: [W. Start & stay in the absolute with affirmations & denials! [like the Scientific Statement of Being also does, SH 468]
Cobbey Crisler on John 1:1-3 (citation B1): “In the beginning”

“John 1:1. John starts off unlike any of the preceding gospels. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He starts off, as a matter of fact, as only one other book of the Bible begins. Notice Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. " Do you think the early readers of his gospel would have recognized that? Do you think that was John's intent? That it should be recognized?

“There is something that is a major clue to studying the Bible. That is, when you get the remotest hint of an Old Testament verse in the New Testament, don't ignore it or put it aside. It’s there for a very deep reason. It probably holds the key to the meaning of the New Testament event, or the author would not have included it. By no means make the mistake which Professor Davies, Professor Dodd, Professor Albright and many others of our top New Testament scholars say we often make. That is, when you find a verse in the New Testament which comes from the Old Testament, either an exact quote or a paraphrase, don’t just go back to that verse. Read the context around it. Study the environment; get deeply involved in the thought and intent of the Old Testament passage. You may be more closely at-one with what the author in the New Testament means. In other words, what do you have? You have a blend of the whole Bible that way. You find that Old and New Testaments become inseparable, which is virtually the view, I think, that the authors of the New Testament take. The account of the "Walk to Emmaus" in Luke 24: 13-35 shows how much Jesus and the apostles used the Old Testament to show how much the New Testament fulfills Old Testament prophecies.

“It also seems clear to me that Jesus, in his approach to mankind, from his outlook, his acts, his attitudes, his words as well as works, embraced universal humanity. You'll find hints of it passed down from his early students to their students, and so forth. But more than this, Jesus of Nazareth was a Bible student to surpass all Bible students. Therefore, if he knew in his own thought when an event affecting him or others of his period were the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy, or a lesson should be learned from a new/old truth that came out of the reservoir of the Scriptures, then he would so state it.

“But sometimes he allowed it to remain hidden. It would force his hearers, as well as his readers in this century, to become Bible students with him if they wanted to understand what he was saying. He embraces universal humanity. He addresses and communicates particularly to Bible students. As far as Jesus' comprehension of the word "Christian" is concerned, it probably would be fair to say that he would insist that Christians become Bible students just to comprehend what the word meant. What does that say to us today? Does that mean we should be reading these books, this collection, this library called the Bible? Specifically, our focus today is on the New Testament and one of the gospels? Should we be reading it as if it were a novel? Is that how Jesus felt his life and mission should be conveyed?

“Should we weep real tears because of the suffering and the lack of understanding and the persecution that occurred to him? And then wipe our eyes and go about our business because we've read a very deeply moving story, as we might have turned on a televisions set? Is that the kind of surface research that Jesus expected of his followers? When he said in John 5:39, "search the Scriptures,” I doubt you could ever apply that to television. Who wants to search television? There is obviously an object in view which Jesus knew would not benefit him, but would be enormously rewarding. The yield on that kind of investment would leap out of the page into the lives of those who did it. Therefore, "the word would be made flesh,” (John 1:14).

“John 1:1 starts his gospel off, "In the beginning was the Word.” The Greek is, en arche hin ho logos. Does arche look familiar to you? It is the root word in "archeology." It's an exciting word. It doesn't just mean when things begin or when they have started in a human way, so much as, translated by some scholars, as "the first principle" of things.

“For instance, when Jerome, in about 400 A.D. translates the Greek Bible into Latin, here’s how he does those opening words. "In principio," which, of course, is our root of our word "principle," in principio. He could have used another Latin expression which is "ab initio, " which would have meant at the initial phases of things, but instead he chooses a Latin word which has a dual meaning which could be “principle," the first principle, the origin, the basis of things.

“If we choose that particular Greek meaning for the opening of both Genesis and John, then it gives it an entirely different connotation. If, in principle, God created the heaven and the earth, or in principle, was the word, it starts out like many mathematical or scientific textbooks which start out with the statement of principle. Everything else derives from it.

“But then we come to a word which John uses in the first chapter and uses again in successive chapters but never with the same connotation. It stands out in its uniqueness and it is so emphatically important to the author that we have to just dwell on it somewhat and see what it might mean.

“Let me give you a partial history of the word. What automatically occurs to you as the meaning of logos? We take this word, "Word," and identify it with logos. This is likely being written at some point during the 1st century A.D. Way back in the 6th century B.C., Heraclitus at Ephesus was attempting philosophically to explain continuity amid all the flux around him. He resorted to logos as the eternal principle of order in the universe, the kind of reliable, unchanging law and order. This is several centuries prior to John's use of it. (Interestingly enough, people think that the Gospel of John may have been written there.)

“From that period we can trace the word logos through many, many different concepts. Zeno (of Elea, c 490 – c 430 B.C.), a Greek philosopher used it in the connotation of right reason, of reality within the mind, pure thought. Which leads me to what Professor Dodd has said, "It is only in Greek that a term is available which means both thought and word, and that's logos." Only in Greek have you that term that can convey both thought and word. So, when you’re talking about logos, even from the standpoint of word, if we are not giving to it what really is behind it, we're losing something of the message, aren't we?

“Why does the additional concentration on thought add to the definition of word? When you go behind the word to the thought, you're dealing with ideas, concepts, and the meaning. It is where all human languages finally give up their fragmentation and meet, and become one, in a Pentecostal day of infinite communication. The "word" is but an instrument which we must meet at the thought or at the meaning. Then, no barriers, especially language barriers, can stand between us and comprehension of one another, of the universe, its laws, and the source of those laws.

“Dodd continues: "In Origen’s commentary on the 4th gospel which is being written, again very early in the history of the Christian church. In reading Origen's commentary, there are interpretations in there, in the Greek that he's writing, which absolutely depend upon taking logos not only in the sense of word, but it alternates without warning with the other sense of rational principles. So, the continual indication of this word principle is something that is significant."

“Do you know where we use logos in the English language? Biology, physiology. Logos is the one that has been used to define the sciences in the English language. This was the comprehension at least of the lexicographers who developed our own language of the Greek term. Look how it's lasted even in our language. We use it all the time without realizing it, taking it for granted. Is there a scientific connotation, then, that "In the beginning,” "In the first principle of things,” there is a scientific unvarying, inalienable, order that's ruling. And that it's not only being uttered as an expression or word, but behind it is the immense thought that also must be based on the same principle. Notice in Verse 1of Chapter 1 that it all related with and to God.

“John 1:3 continues with a statement that is quite absolute, "All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Is there any reservation for qualifications? "All things were made by him. That is [an] enormous commitment to make at the beginning of a book. The theology of this book is therefore committed right squarely on what principle if we're now defining the theological principle on which the Bible is based? Not only oneness of God, but the fact He's one, also means He's all. "All things were made by Him.” Everything is created by Him. That also poses problems, because all we have to do is open our eyes and look around us. And what we see, we'd rather not think was created by God. But as of now, we've just started the book. So, let's see what the style of the author is and his theological commitments. "All things were made by Him.”

“He doesn't leave it there. The very next sentence adds, “Without him was not any thing made that was made." Why is he saying that? Doesn’t “all things were made by Him” take care of the other part? What is the difference? What’s the distinction that he is implanting in his readers' thought right at the beginning of the book? "All things were made by Him.” What would you call that? That kind of statement is an absolute, but is it also an affirmation. It's a real solid plus. This is a plus of the theological view of John. "All things were made by Him."

“What have we got now? Denial. Here is how we're going to deal with the minus element. The minus element is without Him, "without him was not any thing made that was made.” Any hint of a minus existing after the all-things-were-made-by­him being declared, is removed, because it is the other side of the same coin.

“The plus, the minus, the affirmation, the denial is a mathematical approach. Dealing with the plus, dealing with the minus and ending up with one, not dualism. One, so there’s no doubt that the key to the gospel is monotheism. It challenges the reader’s thought to see if he’s there at that altitude before he continues any further in the gospel. It forces the reader to get to that height in order to remotely commu

nicate with what's in the gospel.”
“Book of John, A Walk with the Beloved Disciple,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**


GEM#3: “Be still and know…” Cobbey Crisler’s comments on Psalms 46:10 (B4)

“Psalm 46, Verse 10. One of the simplest prescriptions for the human mind to take and one of the most difficult. The human mind resists to the hilt taking this one. “Be still and know that I [am] God.” The racket of thought quieted. It’s a very strong word, “Be still.” Jesus used those words to calm violence in nature [Mark 4:39], and also to cast out an unclean spirit [Mark 1:25]. It doesn’t belong in nature or human nature. Certainly it’s not part of the divine nature. So, “Be still” is [a] very emphatic verbal rebuke.” ]

“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms”, by B. Cobbey Crisler**

GEM#4: “Be still and know…” Ken Cooper poem on Psalms 46:10 (B4)
Ken wrote: “
The infinitude of God necessitates the infinitude of all of God’s qualities. Wherever we look, God is present, – Love, Truth, Soul, all manifest in the perfect expression of all that God is. It is simply groundless mesmerism that would suggest a creation separate from that which God created. We have freedom because there is nothing that can interfere with Allness. Truth dispels error, Soul dispels inharmony, because in the Allness of good there is only good.

When we look around us, we rejoice in the beauty of God’s creation, held in Mind before time began. Once in Mind it is there for ever, perfect, intact, fulfilling its purpose and design.
The beauty of the flowers is immortal, and within our consciousness. The glory of the Lord is everywhere and fulfilled in us. The everything that is God is the eternal unfolding beauty of man and flower, the perfection of creation, everywhere.

The poem “Be Still and Know that I am God” rejoices in what is and can be viewed at https://youtu.be/AYgn9lzW5-w

The words in pdf versions are attached to CedarS online Met as upper right Downloads.

GEM#5: Rejoice in living the four elements of your being and “God’s being”—your divine identity of “INFINITY, FREEDOM, HARMONY, BOUNDLESS BLISS.”
These words are carved into 5-ft. long signs at CedarS Cable Ski launch as you can see by clicking the top upper-right Download. Have fun applying them to yourself as noted below!

One-liner, word equations in Science & Health are “textbook” illustrations of the “Transitive Property of Equality” (www.mathwords.com) (See page 470:23 and 481:3)

470:23 (the first of two simple, one-line, word equations under review) states:
(a) “Man is (=) (b) the expression of God’s being.”

Science & Health (citation S4 this week (p. 481:3) the second of two, simple, one-line, word equations under review) states:
(b) “God’s being is (=) (c) infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss.”

[W: Let’s apply to ourselves the Transitive Property of Equality: If a = b and b = c, then a = c.]

(a) “Man or YOU is/are (=) (c) the expression of infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss.”

Therefore, like CedarS Cable Ski system, its skiers and the “Energizer Bunny,”
YOU express the synonyms for Infinity including: inexhaustibility, eternity, limitlessness, immeasurability, perpetuity (See https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/rodule )

Like CedarS Cable Skiers and the Statue of Liberty,
YOU express the synonyms for freedom including: opportunity, power, ability, exemption, flexibility, immunity, privilege, right, discretion, facility, leeway, liberty, prerogative, range, scope, unrestraint, carte blanche, elbowroom, free rein, full play, full swing, plenty of rope

Like CedarS Cable Skiers and Band, Chorus, Cabin or Family members,
YOU express the synonyms for harmony including: cooperation, friendship, consistency, good will, kinship, peace, rapport, tranquility, unanimity, understanding, unity, accord, amicability, compatibility, concord, like-mindedness

Like CedarS Cable Skiers, Happy Campers and Stress-free Reflections,
YOU express the synonyms for boundless bliss including: unchangeable blessedness, inexhaustible happiness, unlimited gladness, untold joy…


GEM#6: See the power of accepting no other God to bow down to and to think about most!
[Introduction to a poem by Ken Cooper on Bible citation from Daniel 3:1-28 (citation B12:]
When the Hebrew slaves were challenged to accept other gods, they trusted in God, for the idol of Nebuchadnezzar could not compare. The threats of the king were as empty as the lifeless image of gold, built to impress. Man was made to express. The appearance of the eternal Christ proved that mesmerism had not touched them, nor ever could. https://youtu.be/ko0zRGQ3rCE

Pictures of these four featured elements of God’s being that we are to express are attached to CedarS online Met as upper right Downloads.


GEM#7: Sift plus-thoughts of love & minus-thoughts of incurability to be saved in your “expected end”—with your “soul as a watered garden” – 100% precious, 0% vile!
Cobbey Crisler on
Jeremiah 17:14 thru 31:12 (before & after citation B18, Jer. 30:11, 17)

17th Chapter of Jeremiah, Verse 14, “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed.” There’s Jeremiah’s prayer. “Save me and I shall be saved.” The Anchor Bible points out that the word “salvation” as used in the Old Testament is often used in terms of a not-guilty verdict in court. Salvation is often used in the Old Testament in terms that we would understand today as a not-guilty verdict in court.

The salvation of man would eventually include a verdict of not-guilty, or innocent. This is, of course, the entire theme of Job, his guilt or innocence. [On page 276:1-4 (citation S21), Mary Baker Eddy quotes Job 33:24 ‘I have found a ransom’

This comes from one of Job’s speeches to God about his innocence or uprightness: “If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth:
(Job 33:23–25)

Here is God being quoted, in Verse 12 Chapter 30 [of Jeremiah]. “Thus saith the LORD, thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. [Verse 13] “There is none to plead thy cause [of innocence], that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.”

Jeremiah 30, Verse 15, “Why do you cry for your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable.” Why? [Voice: “The multitude of your iniquity.”] That’s all. Just because of “the multitude of your iniquity.” There is the Bible definition of an incurable disease. It’s just up to us whether it’s incurable or not. Our outlook, our comprehension, and what we are going to do about the iniquity aspect of it. Moses was shown that man has just as much dominion over the serpent, symbolizing iniquity, as over the leprosy on his hand [symbolizing disease].

Jeremiah 30, Verse 17 (citation B18) is God’s view of whether there is any incurability or not. “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds.”

Religion has got to be practical, especially in our century. There’s no room for anything that’s not practical anymore. There are too many problems requiring solutions. Humanity in its history has run [from problems] long enough. Like Jacob ran for twenty years until he began to wrestle [Genesis 32. 24, 25]. Collectively mankind is wrestling now. As John Bunyan said about religion. “The soul of religion is the practical part.”

In Chapter 31, which is Jeremiah’s greatest chapter, he predicts the new covenant will come. He defines it. In Verse 3 he shows that the new covenant is definitely based on the comprehension of God as love. It’s that very “lovingkindness” that will draw all mankind to God for the solution of the world problems.”—[to make “their soul (spiritual sense) as a watered garden.”(Jer. 31:12)
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record,
by B. Cobbey Crisler**


GEM#8—Cobbey Crisler on Isa. 25:8,9 (B21) Death swallowed up in victory & salvation!

In Isaiah 25:8 & 9: Just to see how the peak of prophetic insight, namely Isaiah’s great thought, dwells upon this concept of healing. Does that sound familiar to you at all? It talks about God doing what? “Swallowing up death in victory.” That’s where Paul gets that concept. He mentions it [in 1 Corinthians 15:54]. It’s from Isaiah. “Swallowing up death in victory; the Lord GOD wiping away tears from off all faces;” and the beautiful statement that “the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth.” That goes way beyond just physical healing. It’s totally whole, nothing left fragmented. Certainly, the radical statement of “swallowing up death in victory,” swallowing is not always at once, is it? It’s bite-sized pieces, victory, after victory, after victory, swallowing up the effects of death.”
[W. And the following verse is a perfect last verse for this week’s Bible Lesson, citation B21, Isaiah 25:9: “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this
is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”]

“Heal the Sick: A Scriptural Record,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**


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