Article July 22, 1922 Issue

Sin is, indeed, not a trifling matter, and I can agree with...

Theodore Burkhart, Committee on Publication for the State of Oregon,

Portland Oregonian

Sin is, indeed, not a trifling matter, and I can agree with a correspondent of your paper when he says, "Every time we sin we make ourselves traitors to God and a soldier fighting in the devil's army." To which side Christian Science gives allegiance is indicated by the statement found in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, on page 450, "The Christian Scientist has enlisted to lessen evil, disease, and death;" and that is surely fighting on the right side. Christian Science honors God in the highest degree, refusing to serve or acknowledge any claim of power or being apart from Him, and giving proof of its loyalty and fidelity by its works. The First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," is the favorite text of Christian Science, which insists there is none other but He, as the Bible declares; and consequently Christian Science teaches strict obedience and sole allegiance to this one and only true God. Surely that cannot be treason.

The sinner makes a reality of sin, and so becomes its victim. So long as he indulges in sin he suffers from it, and is, indeed, found "fighting in the devil's army." But Christian Science exposes the true nature and character of sin, teaching that it is unreal in the sense that God never made it, hence that it can be destroyed, and the sinner reformed by demonstrating the truth about it, proving its unreality through repentance and reformation. It is only as we cease to sin, cease to indulge in it, that we are able to see sin as unreal and understand the allness of God, good. This teaching does not by any means "lull the people to sleep by telling them there is no enemy;" but on the contrary it uncovers the deceptiveness of sin, arousing the sinner to repent and forsake his sin, and thus work out his own salvation.

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The Way of Holiness
July 22, 1922
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