Responsive Reading: alatians 3 : 3; I Corinthians 6 : 15, 19, 20; I Corinthians 8 : 4-6

3.     Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

15.     Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?

19.     What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20.     Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

4.     We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.

5.     For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)

6.     But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

1. Deuteronomy 5 : 6 (to 1st ,), 7-9 (to :)

6     I am the Lord thy God,

7     Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

8     Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:

9     Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them:

2. Isaiah 42 : 6-8, 12, 16-18

6     I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

7     To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

8     I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

12     Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare his praise in the islands.

16     And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

17     They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

18     Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

3. John 9 : 1-3, 6, 7, 15, 26-28, 30, 32-38

1     And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

2     And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

3     Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

6     When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

7     And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

15     Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.

26     Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?

27     He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?

28     Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples.

30     The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.

32     Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.

33     If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

34     They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.

35     Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

36     He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?

37     And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

38     And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

4. Romans 6 : 16, 19

16     Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

19     I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

5. Romans 8 : 5, 9 (to 2nd ,), 14

5     For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

9     But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,

14     For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

6. I Corinthians 10 : 14, 19, 20

14     Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

19     What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?

20     But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.

7. Acts 17 : 16-18, 22-25, 27 (he), 28

16     Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

17     Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.

18     Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.

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.

23     For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

24     God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

25     Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

27     …he be not far from every one of us:

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.

8. I John 5 : 4, 20, 21

4     For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

20     And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

21     Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

1. 335 : 7 (Spirit)-8 (to 2nd .)

Spirit, God, has created all in and of Himself. Spirit never created matter.

2. 591 : 8-15

Matter. Mythology; mortality; another name for mortal mind; illusion; intelligence, substance, and life in non-intelligence and mortality; life resulting in death, and death in life; sensation in the sensationless; mind originating in matter; the opposite of Truth; the opposite of Spirit; the opposite of God; that of which immortal Mind takes no cognizance; that which mortal mind sees, feels, hears, tastes, and smells only in belief. 

3. 146 : 5-6

The first idolatry was faith in matter.

4. 119 : 1-5 (to ,)

When we endow matter with vague spiritual power, — that is, when we do so in our theories, for of course we cannot really endow matter with what it does not and cannot possess, — we disown the Almighty,

5. 94 : 1-3

Jesus taught but one God, one Spirit, who makes man in the image and likeness of Himself, — of Spirit, not of matter.

6. 292 : 13-18

Matter is the primitive belief of mortal mind, because this so-called mind has no cognizance of Spirit. To mortal mind, matter is substantial, and evil is real. The so-called senses of mortals are material. Hence the so-called life of mortals is dependent on matter.

7. 174 : 4-6

Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry, that man should bow down to a flesh-brush, to flannels, to baths, diet, exercise, and air?

8. 186 : 32-11 (to ,)

The human mind has been an idolater from the beginning, having other gods and believing in more than the one Mind.

As mortals do not comprehend even mortal existence, how ignorant must they be of the all-knowing Mind and of His creations.

Here you may see how so-called material sense creates its own forms of thought, gives them material names, and then worships and fears them. With pagan blindness, it attributes to some material god or medicine an ability beyond itself. The beliefs of the human mind rob and enslave it,

9. 214 : 18-21

We bow down to matter, and entertain finite thoughts of God like the pagan idolater. Mortals are inclined to fear and to obey what they consider a material body more than they do a spiritual God.

10. 170 : 32-3

Matter, which takes divine power into its own hands and claims to be a creator, is a fiction, in which paganism and lust are so sanctioned by society that mankind has caught their moral contagion.

11. 308 : 1-4

Art thou dwelling in the belief that mind is in matter, and that evil is mind, or art thou in the living faith that there is and can be but one God, and keeping His commandment?"

12. 228 : 25-27

There is no power apart from God. Omnipotence has all-power, and to acknowledge any other power is to dishonor God.

13. 208 : 5-16

The Scriptures say, "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." What then is this seeming power, independent of God, which causes disease and cures it? What is it but an error of belief, — a law of mortal mind, wrong in every sense, embracing sin, sickness, and death? It is the very antipode of immortal Mind, of Truth, and of spiritual law. It is not in accordance with the goodness of God's character that He should make man sick, then leave man to heal himself; it is absurd to suppose that matter can both cause and cure disease, or that Spirit, God, produces disease and leaves the remedy to matter.

14. 393 : 16-24

Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God's government. Have no fear that matter can ache, swell, and be inflamed as the result of a law of any kind, when it is self-evident that matter can have no pain nor inflammation. Your body would suffer no more from tension or wounds than the trunk of a tree which you gash or the electric wire which you stretch, were it not for mortal mind. 

15. 397 : 26-32

We can never treat mortal mind and matter separately, because they combine as one. Give up the belief that mind is, even temporarily, compressed within the skull, and you will quickly become more manly or womanly. You will understand yourself and your Maker better than before.

16. 425 : 23-4

Consciousness constructs a better body when faith in matter has been conquered. Correct material belief by spiritual understanding, and Spirit will form you anew. You will never fear again except to offend God, and you will never believe that heart or any portion of the body can destroy you.

If you have sound and capacious lungs and want them to remain so, be always ready with the mental protest against the opposite belief in heredity. Discard all notions about lungs, tubercles, inherited consumption, or disease arising from any circumstance, and you will find that mortal mind, when instructed by Truth, yields to divine power, which steers the body into health.

17. 380 : 32-1

Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God.

18. 428 : 15-21

We should consecrate existence, not "to the unknown God" whom we "ignorantly worship," but to the eternal builder, the everlasting Father, to the Life which mortal sense cannot impair nor mortal belief destroy. We must realize the ability of mental might to offset human misconceptions and to replace them with the life which is spiritual, not material.

19. 467 : 5 (Thou)-7, 13-16

Thou shalt have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no truth, no love, but that which is spiritual. … Having no other gods, turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ.