A common and troublesome state of mind among human beings is a sense of guilt, inferiority, or worthlessness. It stems from a belief of having been begotten by mortal, material parents, born into matter, and of being destined to live a life of mistakes, sin, and unavoidable deterioration that end in death.

What a contrast to the truth, to the teachings of Christ Jesus and Christian Science!

Jesus repeatedly turned the thought of his listeners to their true origin, God. They were suffering from many false teachings, unfounded, cruel beliefs and superstitions. Their thought was much concerned with defilement, uncleanness, and imperfection of one type or another. Jesus lifted this terrible burden by showing them the truth that man is not a miserable mortal but God's beloved son, the immortal reflection of divine Life itself.

The immaculate Teacher saw man as the good, pure, and perfect idea of God. Jesus recognized no defilement in man. The purity of his consciousness, expressing the nature of God, enabled him to heal the multitudes. The Bible relates that "when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them." ^{Luke 4:40;}

It was not the laying on of Jesus' hands which healed. This was simply his manner of expressing the loving nature of our Father-Mother God. His listeners felt a love and tenderness which regarded them as clean, uncondemned, undefiled; and they were healed. However, at no time did Jesus teach that one could find freedom, happiness, or healing while continuing in sin. His rebuke of evil was so strong at times that it shocked the human mind. When he was confronted personally with error in his disciples or others, he rebuked the wrong thinking or acting involved.

Christian Science comes today explaining and, more importantly, actually demonstrating healing and harmony, proving itself to be the Comforter which the Master promised. It teaches that God is Mother as well as Father and that it is His nature to comfort, uplift, and sustain. It teaches that one's true self, the real man, was never material, never characterized by animal tendencies, but always lovable, spiritual, and undefiled.

Christian Science acknowledges one supreme cause and calls this cause Mind, Spirit, Love. If cause is Mind, then man, who is effect, is mental, spiritual. In spiritual being there is no matter, no imperfection, no material magnetic attraction, no defilement. Perfection and harmony, founded on divine Love, are the very theme of creation. Purity is the essence of spiritual reality.

Through Christian Science the thought of each individual can be lifted to his true origin and away from the sordidness and vexations of materiality, contamination, deviation, and mortality. All men can learn that degrading and destructive beliefs, such as dependence upon drugs and sensuality or rebellion against established moral standards, will never lead to satisfaction. The falsities of human belief must be uncovered and discarded. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "This is the error,—that mortal man starts materially, that non-intelligence becomes intelligence, that mind and soul are both right and wrong."^{Science and Health, p. 531;} Mortal man never started at all; and in reality there has been only one kind of man—the man God created.

A young student of Christian Science was once given the impression by an older, respected person that she must work hard to overcome an evil influence imposed upon her as a child. She came to believe that she was in some way contaminated because of false theological teachings forced upon one of her parents, even though the parent had soon been separated from such teachings. As a result the young student went through a period of mental suffering. She carried a sense of inferiority until one day, frantic with a feeling of unworthiness, she reached out for the nearest piece of Christian Science literature at hand, it happened to be the Christian Science Hymnal. Opening it at random, she read:

The word "undefiled" stood out as God's direct message. All sense of inferiority left. The Christ, Truth, had truly come, had touched and healed the student. She received this long-desired, uplifting message from divine Love: "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." ^{John 15:3;}

Mankind labor under the misapprehension of being material mortals with diseased bodies and limited, private minds. But the truth is that there is but one Mind, and each can draw upon that Mind without measure. The assumption that man is a physical being instead of a spiritual individual is challenged by these words of Mrs. Eddy: "We must destroy the false belief that life and intelligence are in matter, and plant ourselves upon what is pure and perfect. Paul said, 'Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.' Sooner or later we shall learn that the fetters of man's finite capacity are forged by the illusion that he lives in body instead of in Soul, in matter instead of in Spirit." ^{Science and Health, pp. 222, 223;}

In the real man's consciousness there is nothing defiled, no accuser, no condemnation. Each individual can have a fresh start by abandoning error, by turning to the purity and perfection of the one divine Mind, and by realizing that as the reflection of God he is as flawless as his divine source. As he forsakes sin, he is forgiven; and that is the end of the defilement or debasement. Sin and disease will lose their hold as one realizes that it is sinful to believe in a life or mind separate from God. Speaking of Jesus, Mrs. Eddy says, "He claimed no intelligence, action, nor life separate from God." ^{p. 136 .}

It was natural for Jesus not to condemn the adulterous woman nor to shrink from lepers or sick people. His lack of condemnation of the individual and his open or silent rebuke and rejection of the error involved healed these seeming unfortunates. Evil was clearly impersonal to him, even as Christian Science teaches. The entire purpose of Christianity and Christian Science is to correct and uplift the thought of each individual to the grandeur of his true, un-defiled selfhood.