For many people today it is natural to see life as cyclical. Just as we cycle through the day, so we believe ourselves to cycle through life – a life which has a distinct beginning (birth) and ending (death).
Yet despite the appearance of life cycles all around us, measured by the Earth’s rotation on its axis and revolution around the sun, from the point of view of the globe and the sun, there is no beginning or ending of the day. And the Bible presents a perspective of Life as Spirit, God, without beginning or ending. Isaiah, the Hebrew prophet, assures us that God “will swallow up death in victory” (Isaiah 25:8).
Conscious of this, Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, encourages us to move, mentally, out of that false belief in life cycles. She writes in the Christian Science textbook, “Never record ages. … Time-tables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 246).
She is not simply turning us away from the generally held misconception that all life is part of some cyclical pattern of birth, development, decline, and death. She is also turning us toward the earthshaking fact that Life is eternal, decisively rejecting the notion of cyclical life with the assertion that, “The radiant sun of virtue and truth coexists with being. Manhood is its eternal noon, undimmed by a declining sun” (Science and Health, p. 246).
By this symbol of an eternal noon she is clearly not referring to a long mortal life. Her textbook shows the world of time to be a world of limitation, matter, and error (see the definition of “time” in the Glossary of Science and Health, p. 595), and shows how we can more accurately identify ourselves as living in the realm of eternity.
The realm of eternity is a world without beginnings or endings, with a creator who continues to be creative – to renew His creation. One might say our creator gives life. But Christian Science goes further. It identifies God as Life itself. In this way we can begin to appreciate that divine Life is living us – eternally!
This idea of eternal life is highlighted in Christ Jesus’ teachings. He taught that eternal life is a present reality to experience for those who believe in him and his Father. It’s not just a future reward. He assures us, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life” (John 5:24).
In several of the Gospels, Jesus is asked some form of the question, “How can I gain, or inherit, eternal life?” His answers vary somewhat from Gospel to Gospel. But they all point to what we can do with our thinking and with our actions, refocusing thought and action on God.
His answers include:
• “Keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17);
• “Sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor” (Mark 10:21) – that is, revise totally your sense of priorities;
• “This do, and thou shalt live” – referring to a questioner’s recitation of “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself” (Luke 10:27, 28);
• Be like the good Samaritan – selfless, compassionate, generous (see Luke 10:30-37).
In John, he also says, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). So we must learn from the profound teachings and examples of the prophets, and especially of Jesus and his apostles.
Through following Jesus’ commands, immortality is revealed as inherent in each one of us. That is exactly the conclusion reached by Mrs. Eddy, who dedicated her life to a deep and practical understanding of Jesus’ teachings. It led her to the striking conclusion that, “Man, being immortal, has a perfect indestructible life” (Science and Health, p. 209).
When I learned about Christian Science as a teenager, I was bowled over by that conclusion. I am immortal! We are all immortal! Not only was I not in a cyclical life pattern, headed for an inevitable decline, I had a perfect indestructible life.
Since learning this, I have enjoyed following Jesus’ example of knowing and living life eternal. I am still scuba diving, hang gliding, and hiking long beyond when others have given up activities like these. I attribute this to a deeper understanding of my immortality.
We can begin to redefine ourselves as totally separate from all the many life-cycle theories. God’s government exists outside of time, outside of limitation of any kind.
Adapted from an editorial published in the September 2025 issue of The Christian Science Journal.
