Article February 24, 1917 Issue

If our critic's theory of the atonement is the correct one,...

Robert S. Ross—Penn Yan, N. Y.

Yates County Chronicle

If our critic's theory of the atonement is the correct one, the supreme sacrifice of Christ Jesus absolves us from the responsibility of working out our own salvation; he has worked out the salvation of all mankind for all time, and we have little more to do than to hold to this belief. Christian Science, however, declares that Christ Jesus was the Wayshower, that he set us an example, and that only by overcoming all evil in our lives, as he by triumphing over his stripes or experiences overcame it, can we hope to exchange the cross for a crown. On page 18 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes, "He did life's work aright, not only in justice to himself but in mercy to mortals,—to show them how to do theirs, but not to do it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility."

God is Spirit; therefore His creation, including man in His image and likeness, must be spiritual and perfect. The opposite of Spirit is matter; therefore a material universe, including mortal man, involves error; it cannot be spiritual and perfect. As Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 29), "Jesus was the offspring of Mary's self-conscious communion with God," but the Christ, Jesus' real being, toward which he was ever striving and which he eventually attained by putting off the material for the spiritual, was and is divine. Jesus certainly did not reach perfection until he rose above imperfect material conditions. On page 313 of the same book Mrs. Eddy writes, "Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe." This is a tribute that will be appreciated by the world in the proportion that it grasps the real import of Christ Jesus' mission. Neither directly nor indirectly did Mrs. Eddy ever question the superiority of Christ Jesus over other earthly personalities.

If, as the critic admits, suffering is a "stern reality," it is from God; for only that which is eternal is real. Now we know that Jesus came to do the will of God. If sin, disease, and death are from God, it was destroying God's work for Jesus to overcome them. But Jesus was not disobedient. He did not come to destroy anything that God made, but to destroy the works of the devil. If sin, disease, and death are not from God, they are unreal; and if they are unreal they can be destroyed through the understanding of the truth of being. If God were the author of evil, to try to overcome it would be useless.

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

Send a comment to the editors
NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Article
It was with some little surprise and not altogether without...
February 24, 1917
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit