"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
Sensuality has been a problem for me. Sensual thoughts are thoughts about our body or someone else’s body. Then these thoughts would bubble up in my thinking they would be difficult to stop, and would result in self-abusive behaviour. Will power was of no use. I seemed to lack strength and self control. Unsightly sores appeared on my body. Other health problems surfaced. Bouts of loneliness and anxiety seemed to be factors.
This was a big thing to me. I was ashamed. The prevalent attitude in society about such a subject is one of laughter and ridicule. Intuitively I felt it was a serious situation. Mary Baker Eddy wrote in ‘Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures’ 337:6, “Sensualism is not bliss but bondage.”
Various ideas helped. Psalms 51:10 - “Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.” From various Christian Science Sentinels I gleaned the following ideas: “Man is not sensual but spiritual.” “Man’s spiritual innocence has never been touched. Man’s spiritual innocence remains intact.” And, “The image and likeness of Spirit is pure and whole.
Mrs Eddy also states in SH 485:4, “Science declares that Mind not matter, sees, hears, feels, speaks.” And on p 218:1, that “mortal mind does the false talking.”
I sought help from a Christian Science practitioner. The practitioner directed me to the book “We Knew Mary Baker Eddy” where Mrs Eddy’s enlightened sense of Life, Truth and Love had a healing effect on Calvin Hill. This line in SH 199:21 was also shared with me: “The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.”
I have been praying to understand the real man and real woman of God’s creating. SH 42:25 talks about the resurrection of Jesus Christ: “This demonstrates that in Christian Science the true man is governed by God - by good not by evil - and is therefore not a mortal but an immortal.” Also helpful was this on p 475: “The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so unlike Spirit.”
I found that every activity needs prayerful preparation. Before retiring for bed I would study the Christian Science Bible lesson for the week. “Good thoughts are an impervious armour. Clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort.” (My 210:7)
The article “Christian Theism” in Miscellaneous Writings has been a big help, especially the passage on p 15:31 - “But the sinner is not sheltered from suffering from sin: he makes a great reality of evil, identifies himself with it, fancies he finds pleasure in it, and will reap what he sows; hence the sinner must endure the effects of his delision until he awakens from it.”
The unsightly sores on my body and the other health problems have been healed. I now experience a level of freedom from sensual thoughts that I never knew before. I feel there is still more work to be done for a complete healing. A friendship based on moral values has begun.