Article October 5, 1899 Issue

Questions and Answers

L. C. R.

According to the teachings of Christian Science is a man saved by faith, or is he saved by works? —L. C. R.

Man is not saved by faith in the personality of another, neither is he saved by reason of the works he is able to perform in his own strength and of his own accord. He is saved by that faith which can be, and is, demonstrated in works. The apostle says, "Faith without works is dead." In fact, works are the only evidence that man has a saving faith. But by faith and works is not meant merely a belief entertained about God and the practice resulting therefrom. The faith that really saves is more than the confidence and trust resulting from a human conception of Deity. A humanized thought of God may cause one to believe that he is safe from harm when he is in the danger. He will quietly fold his hands and dream he is "saved" when he should be awake proving the allness of God and the nothingness of error. The faith that really saves, understands what God is, and is also awake to what error claims to be and do. The grand results accomplished by means of this understanding of Truth are proof positive that a saving faith is a present salvation.

The basis of this understanding is the spiritual fact that man is now the image and likeness of God, and as such he is already saved from sin, sickness, and death. This great fact must be wrought out in human experience. In other words, mortals must demonstrate the Truth of Being is works. In no other way can they gain the consciousness of existence which is saved from evil. As mortals realize that sin is no part of the real man, and that it affords no true sense of pleasure, they cease to sin. The declaration "There is no pleasure in sin," amounts to nothing as a theory, but when this scientific fact is so received into one's daily life that it takes away the false sense of pleasure, it is faith made manifest in works.

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