Article June 28, 1919 Issue

Christian Science accepts as real only that which is absolutely...

Katherine English

Victoria (British Columbia) Colonist

Christian Science accepts as real only that which is absolutely true, genuine, permanent, eternal, existing forever as a fact, not merely apparent to the physical senses. It counts unreal whatever is false, fleeting, destructible, delusive, temporal. Christian Science defines sin as did our Lord and Master, Christ Jesus, when he said, personifying evil after the manner of the Orient, "He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him." If anything has no truth in it, it has no real existence, it only appears as a lie, a fraud, a deception, injuring those who mistakenly think it true. Christian Science, therefore, considers sin as a negation, possessing neither truth nor reality in itself, given no power nor reality by God. Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health, p. 92), "We should blush to call that real which is only a mistake."

Christian Science accepts as true only that which is characteristic of God, which exists and thrives in His presence, which is characteristic of His nature. Does God create sin? Does it exist and thrive in His presence? Is it characteristic of His nature? If so, the more we know of God, the closer our walk with Him, the more evil we shall express, which is absurd. If not, then the sin is a mistake; we can be enlightened, our belief in its power can be destroyed, its falsity and unreality can be proved.

Christian Science does not ignore sin; it rebukes and destroys it. Nor does Christian Science say that the bodily senses do not furnish evidence of sin and sickness to the human mind; it does say that the belief in sin is punished as long as it is held. Sin brings its own punishment with it; we cannot have one without the other. The only way to stop suffering for sin is to stop sinning, and the only way to stop sinning is to turn from it, to acknowledge God as the only real power, to fill thought with positive goodness so that there is no room for sin. God does not make sinners. His children are not erring mortals, born of the flesh. If we say that we, as mortals, "have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." To be forgiven, sin needs only to be destroyed. The real, spiritual man, created by God in the likeness of Spirit, is not perceived by the physical senses, yet this is the real, true self of each one; it is what John referred to when he wrote, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God."

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