Article March 27, 1948 Issue

LET US LEARN FORGIVENESS!

ADOLF OHMAN

Does God forgive sin? The answer to this question differs according to individual concepts of God, A Christian Scientist knows that "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle. Life, Truth, Love." We find this definition on page 465 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. He knows also that God, being incorporeal, divine, supreme, and infinite, is above and beyond matter and sin, which are but false beliefs, dream, shadows or illusions, without reality or true existence. God, infinite Mind or intelligence, is conscious only of Himself and His infinitely spiritual and perfect creation; He is no more conscious of materiality than light is conscious of darkness. God cannot forgive, that is, pardon, what actually does not exist or have reality.

Then, if God does not pardon sin, how can sin be forgiven? Our Leader says (ibid., p. 339), "The destruction of sin is the divine method of pardon." The destruction of sin is brought about through God's ever-operative law of harmony. This law, which is revealed in Christian Science, is always accessible to anyone willing and ready to learn and apply its rules.

Such willingness and readiness are achieved through constant cultivation of spiritual understanding and its daily and hourly exercise. Sincerity of purpose and holy aspiration lead to the spiritual understanding that man, God's idea, never has left heaven, harmony, never has been out of the kingdom of Love, Life, Truth, the realm of perfection. Man is not, has never been, and can never be separated from God. The unity between God and His idea is an eternal fact, which cannot be changed or shaken.

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LET US LEARN FORGIVENESS!

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