In Jesus' story of Lazarus and the rich man, Abraham had to inform the (formerly) rich man that "between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." Don't feel sorry for the rich man. It is inevitable that sin has to be punished until it is entirely burned out. Abraham was addressing thought.
The great gulf is that there is no connection between good and evil, between love and hate, spirit and matter, pride and humility. There are a million miles in between and no way to bridge that gap. It is black or white. There are no gray zones! A consciousness filled with the goodness of God cannot by infected by evil. A consciousness that is entertaining evil cannot hear God. "Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you." (S&H) And vice versa. This is why the lions could not attack Daniel. He was on the right side of the great gulf, and there was NO CONNECTION.
This is the basis of Christian healing. There is no connection between the truth that you are the perfect image and likeness of God and the erroneous belief that your life is wrapped up in a mortal body. You can't straddle this fence. Your thought is on one side or the other.
The moral of the story is to get myself on the right side of the great gulf and stay there! Thank God for Christian Science for showing us what all this means.
Florence
737 posts
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Location: n.a.
10/21/2015 10:11
Re: The Great Gulf
Choose ye! We cannot be on both sides. It's a good question to ask oneself. Which side am I when confronted with any error? As Jeremy's post alludes to what am I feeding?
Thanks for this explanation, giving the significance of the story.
Sharon
77 posts
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Location: n.a.
10/23/2015 05:58
Re: The Great Gulf
The great gulf impressed me. No one is going to do the work for me. I must do it myself. In Lazarus’ time, he had Moses and the prophets. I have practitioner. I must listen to the Truth that is being given to me and learn the lessons. I learned years ago that you don’t go into the kingdom of heaven in pairs. Each day I are choosing the right or the wrong. It is my choice. As Gary said, “You can’t straddle the fence.”
Thank God for Christian Science and what I am learning in this church.
