Article March 1, 1969 Issue

Man Cannot Fall

GORDON THOMAS SPARE

There is a saying that "it's not in never falling that man's greatest glory lies, but in rising every time he falls." This thought can provide a lift to one whose earnest efforts to climb out of some pit of erroneous practice or mode of thinking are beset by repeated back-slidings. It can help inspire him to make a fresh start after each lapse despite the remorse and self-condemnation of the moment.

Such encouragement is useful, but those who are plagued by stumblings and subsequent corrosive guilt feelings need a firmer basis on which to renew their upward progress. They need to learn what Christian Science maintains, namely, that the real, spiritual man has no evil inclinations, that he cannot stumble or fall, and that he therefore cannot be a prey to self-condemnation.

The aggressive suggestions of materialism argue differently. They say that it is natural to fall, that self-control can never really be achieved, and that it is useless to keep trying. These insidious and discouraging presentments of the carnal mind are always ready to trip the unwary and rob him of his will to rise. Paul well expressed the dismay such setbacks can cause the righteous man, when he wrote, "The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." But then he resolutely separated himself from self-recrimination and guilt, as he added, "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."^{ Rom. 7:19, 20;}

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