On the Healing of Sin

Albert F. Gilmore

That Christian Science provides as certain a remedy for sin as for sickness there is complete proof. Both sin and sickness are healed by the same process, that is, by destroying false belief; for sin no less than sickness results from the holding to false beliefs as true, and the healing Christ is as efficacious in the one case as in the other. "The only difference," declares Mrs. Eddy on pages 352 and 353 of "Miscellaneous Writings," "between the healing of sin and the healing of sickness is, that sin must be uncovered before it can be destroyed, and the moral sense be aroused to reject the sense of error; while sickness must be covered with the veil of harmony, and the consciousness be allowed to rejoice in the sense that it has nothing to mourn over, but something to forget."

Sin must first of all be uncovered; that is, its falsity must be seen. Its motives, purpose, and character must be laid bare, in order that it may be destroyed. Sin is commonly associated with the belief of a false sense of pleasure, a belief that something pleasurable and worthy may be gained through wrongdoing. This false conclusion emanates from an erroneous sense of man; from the belief in a personality whose happiness may be enhanced through the ways of evil, through the indulgence of physical sense. Since sickness deprives one of the joys of normal life, the desire to be rid of it is keen. Not always so with sin! It is held to in the mistaken belief that its indulgence enhances one's happiness; and this condition obtains even though there is a deep-seated conviction of its wrongness. The uncovering of its true character and the viewing of it as a gross deception of which the sinner is the victim, destroys its hold.

Sin no less than sickness is purely mental, and the healing of it is wholly a mental process. Christ, Truth, is the remedy. Since sin springs from a false sense of God and of His creation, man, the truth about God and man applied scientifically furnishes a complete remedy. And while, because of its subtle arguments, it may seem more difficult to remove, yet it cannot withstand the all-power of Truth. The source and character of sin were never more emphatically, nor, albeit, more graphically stated than by Jesus when he denounced the Jews trying to entrap him: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him." Thus boldly did the Master denounce the false sinful sense of man whose father is personified evil, the devil. The false material concept of man is the supposititious source of sin; and sin attaches alone to this false sense. How sure it must be, then, that as the false sense of man gives place to the true concept, the very source of sin is destroyed; and, its seeming source destroyed, sin as an apparent entity disappears. A false concept of man, with all its concomitant beliefs, is therefore the culprit. And sin is healed, utterly destroyed, by the Christ, which discloses the absolute truth about God, man, and the universe.

In another verse of John's Gospel, Jesus without qualification stated to the Jews, "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." How completely under the domination of sin are those who lead sinful lives! What one cherishes in thought is his master. And if sinful thoughts be held to as real, desirable, and worthy, they hold one in bondage. But that condition of servitude is quickly broken when the truth of being is grasped. When it is realized that God made man free, just as God made him spiritual and perfect, all sense of bondage disappears in a heartfelt enjoyment of true freedom. The sinner is always in bondage, restricted and bound by erroneous belief. Freedom attaches only to God's idea: the spiritual man only is really free; for God's image and reflection, the real man, is free from every material restriction, every erroneous belief.

Because Christian Science is the great regenerative agency it is the sure destroyer of sin. Wherever spiritual sense finds its way, there sin is destroyed. Falsity cannot hide in the presence of spiritual Truth. The healing of disease which is wrought by Christian Science is always a regenerative process. Although the erroneous beliefs which are the cause of disease are not always held to be sinful, yet often sin is the procuring cause of the discord. Whether false beliefs, because in violation of the moral laws, are denominated as sinful or not, Truth destroys them, setting the captive free.

Truth surely blesses mankind by removing all error. Sin destroyed through eradication from human consciousness is forgiven; and thus forgiven, it can no longer hold mortals in bondage to its false mastery.

Albert F. Gilmore

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"Life ... the infinite I AM"

March 30, 1929

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