Article April 1, 1996 Issue

Leveling with ourselves about sin

Margaret Rogers

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be truly sinless? The quick-witted would probably say that it wouldn't be any fun! Yet, when we level with ourselves, most of us have suffered acutely from indulging various forms of sin—anger, for instance, envy, immorality, selfishness, or any uncontrolled behavior. Anyone who has experienced the anguish of sin might well imagine that being sinless would be heavenly.

And heavenly is just the right description, because God is sinless. God is totally good—is, in fact, infinite good. That means there's no sin anywhere in God. This compels us to think seriously about our own true nature. All God's creation exists forever within the all-inclusive, sinless, divine Mind. And so, our real identity, the identity God made and holds within Himself right now, must be sinless.

The question is, how does this transcendent, spiritual truth enable us to overcome the sins we grapple with every day? I gained some insight on this question recently when I was struggling with anger. Someone else's behavior was giving me a lot of trouble. I was spending a lot of time thinking about how to deal with his sin. Seeking guidance, I turned to Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy. I read this statement in a list of the Tenets of Christian Science: "We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts" (p. 497).