Article September 22, 1917 Issue

Our critic need not have gone to such extremes to prove...

Rollin E. Smith

Janesville (Minn.) Argus

Our critic need not have gone to such extremes to prove that there is sin in the world — in this mortal existence. Christian Science does not deny that mortal man sins: it denies the reality of sin, metaphysically considered. A mathematician, for instance, does not deny that errors are made in attempting to solve problems, and such errors are very real to the one who makes them. But the mathematician knows there is no reality in error; that is, no principle of error; no power that causes any one to make errors; on the contrary, he knows that there is a principle—unerring, always the same—of mathematics. When this, the truth, is applied, the error vanishes, thereby proving its unreality.

So it is with sin. Christian Scientists do not deny that there is sin in this material existence; they deny that it has any more substantial foundation than has an error in mathematics, though the consequences to those who commit sin are greater. Any sinner may prove the unreality of sin by ceasing to sin.

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