Repentance, spiritual baptism, and regeneration

Readings, 2nd Church Berkeley, 3/11/15
SH Matt. 3:1-3, 5, 6, 11, 13-17
1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
SH Matt. 4:17
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
SH Matt. 9:10-13
10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? 12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
SH Luke 18:9-14
9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
SH Luke 19:10
10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
SH Acts 3:18 1st those, 19
18 …those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. 19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
SH Isa. 40:31
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
SH Titus 3:1 1st be, 2-5
1 …be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, 2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men. 3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. 4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
SH II Pet. 3:9
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
SH 113:5-6
The vital part,
the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love.
SH 24:11-13
He to whom “the arm of the Lord” is revealed will
believe our report, and rise into newness of life with re-
generation.
SH 367:3-16
The tender word and Christian
encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience
with his fears and the removal of them, are better than
hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed
speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so
many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame
with divine Love.
This is what is meant by seeking Truth, Christ, not
“for the loaves and fishes,” nor, like the Pharisee, with
the arrogance of rank and display of scholar-
ship, but like Mary Magdalene, from the sum-
mit of devout consecration, with the oil of gladness and
the perfume of gratitude, with tears of repentance and
with those hairs all numbered by the Father.
SH 19:17-24
Every pang of repentance and suffering, every effort
for reform, every good thought and deed, will help us to
understand Jesus’ atonement for sin and aid
its efficacy; but if the sinner continues to pray
and repent, sin and be sorry, he has little part in the atone-
ment,- in the at-one-ment with God,- for he lacks the
practical repentance, which reforms the heart and enables
man to do the will of wisdom.
SH 448:3-5
When the Publican’s wail
went out to the great heart of Love, it won his
humble desire.
SH 581:23-24
BAPTISM. Purification by Spirit; submergence in
Spirit.
SH 329:22 Science
Science is a
divine demand, not a human. Always right,
its divine Principle never repents, but main-
tains the claim of Truth by quenching error.
The pardon of divine mercy is the destruction of error. If
men understood their real spiritual source to be all bless-
edness, they would struggle for recourse to the spiritual
and be at peace; but the deeper the error into which mor-
tal mind is plunged, the more intense the opposition to
spirituality, till error yields to Truth.
SH 558:10
To mortal sense
Science seems at first obscure, abstract, and
dark; but a bright promise crowns its brow.
When understood, it is Truth’s prism and praise. When
you look it fairly in the face, you can heal by its means,
and it has for you a light above the sun, for God “is the
light thereof.” Its feet are pillars of fire, foundations
of Truth and Love. It brings the baptism of the Holy
Ghost, whose flames of Truth were prophetically de-
scribed by John the Baptist as consuming error.
SH 242:1-14
Through repentance, spiritual
baptism, and regeneration, mortals put off their material
beliefs and false individuality. It is only a
question of time when “they shall all know
Me [God], from the least of them unto the greatest.”
Denial of the claims of matter is a great step towards
the joys of Spirit, towards human freedom and the final
triumph over the body.
There is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ
in divine Science shows us this way. It is to know no
other reality – to have no other conscious-
ness of life – than good, God and His reflec-
tion, and to rise superior to the so-called pain and pleasure
of the senses.
SH 522:29-1
Does Life,
Truth, and Love produce death, error, and hatred? Does
the creator condemn His own creation? Does the un-
erring Principle of divine law change or repent? It can-
not be so.
SH 74:29-30
In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step,
never a return to positions outgrown.
SH 405:30
Belief in material suffering causes mortals to
retreat from their error, to flee from body to Spirit, and
to appeal to divine sources outside of themselves.
SH 203:7
If God were understood instead of being merely be-
lieved, this understanding would establish health. The
accusation of the rabbis, “He made himself
the Son of God,” was really the justification
of Jesus, for to the Christian the only true
spirit is Godlike. This thought incites to a more exalted
worship and self-abnegation. Spiritual perception brings
out the possibilities of being, destroys reliance on aught
but God, and so makes man the image of his Maker in
deed and in truth.
Matt. 3:1-3, 5, 6, 11, 13-17
Matt. 4:17
Matt. 9:10-13
Luke 18:9-14
Luke 19:10
Acts 3:18 those, 19
Isa. 40:31
Titus 3:1 be, 2-5
II Pet. 3:9
SH 113:5-6
SH 24:11-13
SH 367:3-16
SH 19:17-24
SH 448:3-5
SH 581:23-24
SH 329:22 Science
SH 558:10
SH 242:1-14
SH 522:29-1
SH 74:29-30
SH 405:30
SH 203:7

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