Are you sure?
This bookmark will be removed from all folders and any saved notes will be permanently removed.
Be an Ananias
Adapted from an article published in The Christian Science Monitor, March 6, 2017.
Crime has recently dropped in New York City, and some say it’s because of a shift in thinking about policing. The Monitor’s editorial board writes: “If police view gang leaders … as capable of a life without crime, then the gang leaders might not see themselves as criminals. Police, in other words, separate the crime from ‘the criminal’ ” (see editorial on facing page).
Seeing an individual as able to be free of criminal behavior speaks to me of our inherent goodness. It harks back to the Bible telling us that we are each created “very good” by God, and that we can never truly lose that goodness because we are God’s spiritual likeness (see Genesis 1:26, 31). Starting in this way gives us a basis for reformation and an opportunity to express that pure identity.
Take the biblical example of Saul. He was so misled regarding the true nature of Christian teaching that he brought about the death of Christ Jesus’ followers. While he was on the road to Damascus, however, he had a vision of Christ Jesus that was so bright to his darkened thought that he became blind and had to be led by others into the city.
Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.
May 29, 2017 issue
View Issue-
From the readers
Moriah Early-Manchester, Linda Bargmann
-
Campus safety and ‘Truth’s motto’
Stephen Senge
-
Spiritual innocence brings freedom
H. M. Wyeth
-
You can never be obsolete
Martha Sarvis
-
Meeting needs of all kinds
Jeff Shepard
-
Feeling the effects of Christian Science
Dan Ziskind
-
In perfect focus
Mark Swinney
-
Freed from aggressive flu symptoms
Pauline D. Brew
-
Foot difficulty healed
Consuela Allen
-
Desire to know God answered
Frederick James Campbell
-
My angel*
Jill Ferrie
-
The Big Apple’s big drop in crime
The <i>Monitor’s</i> Editorial Board
-
Be an Ananias
Rosalie E. Dunbar
-
Satisfying worship
Barbara Vining
-
Living waters
Barbara Highton Williams