Questions and Answers

What do Christian Scientists mean when they say there is no sin?

Absolutely speaking, they mean just what they say. They do not mean, however, that sin does not exist as a human law and human belief, nor do they mean that mortals, as long as they are under the dominion of sin, are not sinners. As long as they believe in sin and give it power, mortals are sinners. Christian Scientists mean by the unreality of sin that where Good prevails no evil exists. To the extent that Good obtains in human consciousness evil or sin is ruled out therefrom. If the belief in sin predominates in the consciousness of the individual, he is more the servant of sin than of righteousness. If righteousness has the preponderance, he is more a righteous person than a sinner. If a man is less a sinner this year than he was last, he has to that extent overcome sin, and to the extent that he has overcome it he has proved its unreality to himself.

Let us suppose a community of persons, each of whom has so far destroyed for himself the belief that sin has power over him, that he is more the servant of righteousness than of sin. What would be the aggregate consciousness of that community? More righteous than sinful, would it not? If we can go thus far in our supposition, may we not legitimately go farther and suppose a community whose aggregate consciousness is entirely free from sin? In that community then, surely sin would not be real, for it would have no existence.

Now, a community that would submit itself absolutely to the teachings of Jesus Christ, working out their salvation according thereto, would sooner or later become a sinless community; but the community; of course, would become sinless only as each individual thereof had overcome sin in himself. If sin were real in the sense that it constitutes a part of God's divine plan, it never could be overcome, for it would be eternal and indestructible.

Do Christian Scientists believe in punishment for sin?

Most emphatically. The sinner will be punished in due proportion for all his sins. As long as he continues to sin, the punishment will continue. If sin were a part of God's plan and therefore eternal, and the sinner never ceased sinning, his punishment would be eternal; but sin not being part of God's divine plan, sooner or later it must be destroyed in each human consciousness. As mortals awaken to the fact that there is no pleasure in sin, but that it brings certain punishment, they will turn from it; and the only way to overcome sin is to cease sinning. Jesus came to teach mortals how to overcome sin. Had sin been a part of the divine plan, and in that sense real, he would have been violating, instead of fulfilling, God's law, and would not therefore have been "about his father's business," as he so often declared himself to be.

When the "last farthing" shall have been paid,—that is, when the last sin shall have been overcome by the individual,—the "eternal punishment" for sin will have ceased. Christian Scientists construe the word "everlasting," as used in Scripture, in its strict sense,—that it is age-binding. When the age of sin ceases in each individual the "everlasting punishment" will cease.

Do Christian Scientists believe the Scriptures to be inspired?

Whatever is dictated of Good is inspiration. To the extent that Good, or God, is reflected, either in words spoken or written, or in deeds, the person reflecting the same is inspired. The Biblical writers, as a whole, wrote from a high standpoint of spiritual perception, and were inspired in proportion. Their prophetic utterances were divinely inspired, as shown by the fulfilment thereof. God spoke through them of the past, the present, and the future, by virtue of their spiritual understanding. So it has been in all ages. So it is in this age. Spiritually interpreted, therefore, the Scriptures are inspired.

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