Article May 30, 1931 Issue

Healing of False Desire

CUSHING SMITH

On page 150 of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy writes, relative to the healing work of Christian Science, "Now, as then, signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical healing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demonstrate its divine origin,—to attest the reality of the higher mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the world." Religion has always recognized its duty to keep its followers unstained from sinful indulgence, but only through the same spiritual understanding which heals disease can the divine power be realized by which sin is really destroyed, not merely suppressed. If carried to its ultimate depths, sin would in time destroy itself, for the sinner who goes all the way with sin eventually reaches the conclusion which forms the basis for its healing in Christian Science, namely, that sin is merely a diabolical illusion, an unreal siren luring mankind with the promise of satisfaction which cannot be gained from matter. The Bible declares that God is "of purer eyes than to behold evil" and cannot "look on iniquity;" hence the conclusion is inescapable that, since evil cannot be known by omniscient God, who cognizes all that He made, it can have only a supposititious existence, whether the evil be sin, disease, or death.

But one may say, Yes, I see the logic of the reasoning, but it is rather poor comfort when temptation is clamoring for admission to my consciousness—when I am straining every mental power I possess to stave off the desire to indulge in appetites and passions. Very true, replies Christian Science, which would not be truly Christian if it merely enunciated the fact of the unreality of sin, and then passed by on the other side. But, if the sinner accepts this basic teaching of the unreality of sin, he will find in time that he is actually able to prove the illusive nature of that by which he has been duped into the belief that there is pleasure in the senses; that matter can enjoy or suffer independently of mortal mind, the supposititious opposite of the Mind that is God.

In the absolute sense, man can have no longings, since his heavenly Father supplies all that he possesses. In the real man, to be is to have. In the perfect relationship between God and man in His image, the only real desire or purpose must be that of the creator, a purpose which is wholly good. Genesis tells of this purpose of Deity, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion." Later on we read that God saw all that He had made and was satisfied with His work. Hence, man as God knows him can reflect only this completely satisfied and holy desire of his Maker; it is only mortal man that can seem to have unholy, unsatisfied desires which look to matter for fulfillment.

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