QUESTIONER: I was impressed by a statement by Brian Whitlow in his book "Hurdles lo Heaven. (© 1963, by Brian Whitlow. Harper & Row. Publishers, Incorporated, New York, N. Y.) He says, "The great difference between a man and an animal or a vegetable is that a man doesn't have to stay the way he is. He can take a look at himself and change himself. This is a unique ability. A horse cannot do it nor can a cabbage. But a man can. A man can deliberately take steps to alter things about himself."

Now, many people ask: Is it really possible to reform—I mean, for people who have led the kind of life they're not particularly proud of?

SPEAKER: It is never too Late to reform. Purification of thinking and living is a present possibility for all. But essentially what needs altering isn't man, but a false, mistaken mortal view of man.

QUESTIONER: But isn't man a sinner basically? Doesn't he have to overcome sin?

SPEAKER: Sin definitely must be overcome. But sin actually is no part of man, made, as the Bible tells us in God's likeness, This is a basic point: as we understand it sin is no part of man's spiritual selfhood. Understanding of this fact enabled Christ Jesus to save and to heal. And it is this same understanding that brings reformation and healing today.

QUESTIONER: Don't past mistakes condition the situation we now find ourselves in?

SPEAKER: Not when we really wake up to and understand the truth of man's real being as the spiritual child of God and gain a grasp on good. God unfolds the unchanging integrity, the purity, tenderness love, and goodness that man already includes as the child of God. When we begin to see what is true about our real selves, this brings a complete change of standpoint. Our thought is lifted above the rehearsal of past mistakes and condemnation to the realization that good alone is normal to man.

Our beloved Master. Christ Jesus, always condemned sin but not the person. As we see it in Christian Science, he drew a definite distinction between the mistaken sinful view of man and man as God made him. You may recall the account in Luke of the Master's dinner with a Pharisee (7:36-38): "One of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. And behold, a woman in the city, which, was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and die! wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed their, with the ointment."

Now all the Pharisee saw was a sinner. But Jesus saw right through the evil that seemed so real to the Pharisee. He saw the woman in her true nature as the child of God— spiritual, perfect, complete, harmonious—right then—regardless of the outward appearance. The basis for the reformation that this brought is explained in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary baker Eddy, where she writes (pp. 476,477): "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick." Now, this same power of the Christ saves today.

QUESTIONER: How does one go about beginning to reform, to change his life? I'm sure it must be more than just being optimistic and thinking positively.

SPEAKER: Yes, indeed, there's a great deal more to it! In the first place we must be sorry for the wrongdoing and willing to put forth an effort to overcome that which is not good. This is often referred to as repentance, and repentance involves facing up not only to the wrongdoing but also to what lies behind wrongdoing—thoughts, such as greed, lust, envy, hate, carnal-mindedness.

The next step is to wake up to what is right, to what is true of the perfect man and identify ourselves with it. This means the replacing of greedy, hateful thinking with pure, tender, loving, unselfish thoughts and acts. Now, Christian Science does not teach that the human mind can reform itself through its own efforts; but it does teach that the power of the Christ, which is the power of God, is always active in human consciousness and does the correcting.

You see, step by step, thinking that is selfish, sordid, dishonest, morbid, or sinful loses its attraction for us, and in the degree that we persist in gaining the true Christlike view of man, every aspect of our life is reformed.

QUESTIONER: Does this really work for serious wrongdoers?

SPEAKER: It certainly does. I'd like to tell you of the experience of a man in the state of Washington. He became notorious in prohibition days as the head of a rum-running empire that was said to gross over $200,000 a month. He was finally apprehended and given a four-year sentence in a federal penitentiary.

While in prison he faced up to the fact that his wrongdoing had made his life a dismal failure. At this time he did not believe in God, but he did acknowledge that there was an unseen power which governed the universe. So he proceeded to search to learn more of this power, and he read everything he could find in the prison on philosophy and other subjects, but without too much satisfaction.

One day a fellow inmate gave him a copy of the Christian Science textbook. Science and Health. In reading this book, he gained an explanation of God that he could accept. So he studied the Bible and Science and Health for many months. Well, this brought about a dramatic change. His thinking awakened, and he gained an entirely new outlook. And instead of wanting to live to make money or to exercise power over other people, he found that he really wanted to give rather than to get.

QUESTIONER: But did he retain this attitude after he was released from prison?

SPEAKER: Yes he was completely reformed. His way of life had been completely changed. On his release from prison, he would have nothing to do with his former associates in crime. He was broke; but he turned down several lucrative business deals, including the legitimate importing of alcohol, which would have brought him new wealth. Easy money no longer had any attraction for him. He took whatever work he could find: at first as a laborer and then as a salesman.

But as he continued to study the Bible and Science and Health, and through prayer and gratitude to God the right way unfolded for him. Gradually undesirable traits of character faded out of his experience and his life became happy, free, and useful. New friendships were made, and family ties were strengthened. He made progress in his work, and eventually he was able to devote his full time to helping others find reformation and regeneration.

As a Christian Science Worker, he conducted Christian Science services in prison and ministered to the spiritual needs of those who requested help. Occasionally a prisoner would ask him if he was really the man who had been king of the rumrunners. He would reply, in substance. "No not anymore. That man is dead."