Editorial September 16, 1933 Issue

"Sin and penalty"

Duncan Sinclair

The teaching of Christian Science with regard to evil is plain: it is that evil is unreal. How did Mrs. Eddy arrive at this discovery, which is having such a far-reaching effect on the thought of mankind today? She took for granted the truth that God is infinite good, and rightly concluded that good, and good alone, is real. Or, to put it differently, she reasoned that since God is infinite good, the seeming opposite of good called evil has no real existence. But what courage it needed on her part to maintain her discovery in the face of the opposition which was offered to it by the world! For it must be conceded that at the time of the discovery of Christian Science in 1866 she alone gave God all the glory by denying that a power the opposite of good existed as real. On page 567 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes, "To infinite, ever-present Love, all is Love, and there is no error, no sin, sickness, nor death."

But someone may say, What of the sin which mortals commit? And he may continue, If evil is unreal, may sinners not be liable to believe that there can be no harm in their continuing to sin? The reply of Christian Science is that anyone who continues to sin after conceding the fact of the unreality of evil is virtually giving reality to evil, and thereby is stultifying himself. Moreover, it is certain that if he continues to indulge in evil, that is, to sin, he will inevitably reap the penalty of wrongdoing. God has ordained no law of penalty or punishment: such would be unthinkable to infinite Love; but the belief of sin brings its own punishment.

Suppose one has committed some form of sin, perhaps indulged in some sensuous practice which has seemed to result in a disease he finds difficult to get rid of, what must he do? The obvious thing is for him at once to cease sinning. Then he should know that the punishment—in this case, the disease—will cease. In a paragraph on page 40 of Science and Health, with the marginal heading "Sin and penalty," our Leader writes, "Remove error from thought, and it will not appear in effect." How unjust it would be were a law of God to exist which continued to act indefinitely to punish one after he was healed morally and had ceased to commit a moral offense!

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

The Grace of God