Please consider the
following:
Since Christianity began,
and to some degree even in earlier ages, God has been defined as Love, or
divine Love. The Apostle John writes:
Beloved, let us love one
another: for love is of God; and
every one that loveth is born of
God, and knoweth God.
He that loveth not, knoweth not
God; for God is love.
(I John 4:7,8)
Mary Baker Eddy, the
discoverer and founder of Christian Science, agrees with that assessment
and takes it a higher. She writes:
"God is Love." More than this we cannot ask, higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go.
(S&H 6:17)
But what does it mean that
God is Love? Can God, infinite Mind, which is aware of nothing outside of
infinite good, recognize itself as Love, when all is love; or as Truth,
when all is truth; or as Soul, when there is but one infinite
all-inclusive being?
I think Mary Baker Eddy
answers NO to all of these questions. This may be the reason why these
three terms (Love, Truth, and Soul) are not defined in the Glossary of her
textbook on Christian Science,
because they cannot be defined in the absolute sense.
About the question of love,
Mary Baker Eddy says, "God is Love, therefore He is divine
Principle." (S&H 275)
This makes sense, doesn’t
it? God can certainly recognize Himself as the infinite divine Principle
of good, that embraces and supports all reality--His infinite creation. WE
call this divine Principle, Love, because its essence is something that is
profoundly special to us, since this infinite divine embrace of all, as
Principle, is so remote to us in the realm of our motives, experiences,
and even self-identification. In our human sense, what WE call love, is
always something that is narrowly focused and is seen in contrast what
what is not love. We see love confined, narrow, limited, kept within
tightly defined barriers. God, infinite Mind, could never entertain such a
narrow, specifically focused concept, and neither should we. Divine
Principle is infinite, boundless, and universal. This description also
defines the 'dimension' of divine Love, which is properly reflected only
as universal love. We have no justification, therefore, to speak of love,
unless love is perceived as boundless, universal, as wide as the universe,
all-embracing. But what is universal love? How is universal, or divine
Love, necessarily reflected in our humanity?
This exacting, scientific
challenge, poses a severe challenge in our human world, doesn’t it? What
defines universal love in the social, political, and economic context, not
to mention the social and sexual context?
Are you interested in
exploring this question?
