Many people today sincerely want to stop sinning. But how often have we heard that we live in a permissive society where sin is normal and immorality an accepted fact of life? How seldom do people associate hatred, dishonesty, selfishness—any type of thinking or acting disobedient to the law of God—as sinful and potentially as harmful and destructive as lust or sensuality?

Fortunately, deeply implanted thought-patterns and negative thinking habits can be overcome. Christian Science provides the spiritual ammunition that shoots down all of sin's deceitful arguments. It proves there is never any reason to accept sin as natural, normal, or unavoidable. It shows us that sin in any disguise can be detected, admitted to be an error of thought, and finally destroyed through prayer. As we deny the belief in a material, sensual mind and obey the commandment to have one God, one Mind, we deprive sin of any mind or power. Then we can stop sinning. The Bible makes it clear: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." ^{II Cor. 5:17.}

True freedom and the strength to resist sin come from a spiritual understanding of God and His creation, from the knowledge that sin is never pleasurable and never a part of man's real being. Sin will be destroyed in our thinking by the vigorous denial of it, the strong affirmation of man's pure being in God, and our solid determination to live according to God's law.

Just as the Bible talks about the warfare going on between flesh and Spirit, so the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, makes clear that the primary aim of healing work is to overcome sin. She writes in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "To get rid of sin through Science, is to divest sin of any supposed mind or reality, and never to admit that sin can have intelligence or power, pain or pleasure. You conquer error by denying its verity." ^{Science and Health, p. 339.}

Certainly the greatest man who ever lived was also the one without sin. Jesus' purity of thought and action is a model for all of us. We read in Philippians, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." ^{Phil. 2:5.} When we find ourselves tempted to sin, we might remind ourselves of Jesus' example. Like him, we can do the right thing in any situation if we fully understand that we have the same God, the same Mind.

A Christian Science chaplain was called to a mental institution to visit a young woman who had requested Christian Science treatment. She had been a prostitute and drug addict, had had two children out of wedlock, and had actively associated with known criminals. But despite her depressing background and record of immorality, she once had been exposed briefly to Christian Science, and now expressed a sincere desire for its healing message.

During their first visit, the chaplain learned that the woman was engaging in sexual relations with several of the patients in the institution. She felt that "everyone was doing it." The verse from Romans applied perfectly to her: "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." ^{Rom. 7:19.}

The chaplain began a series of healing visits with the woman. She began a dedicated study of the textbook and started to recognize that sin was part of the illusion that man is just a higher form of animal life with accompanying animal instincts. She realized that she didn't have to give in to immoral suggestions but could challenge them right at the door of consciousness and dismiss them immediately on the basis of their unreality. She reasoned that because of the absolute goodness of God, divine Mind, sin has no place in the divine consciousness. Therefore she could refute the belief in an evil mind, an opposite to the one Mind.

In the weeks that followed she began to realize very clearly that sin was not normal, that immorality was never acceptable, and that purity of thought and action was never outdated. As she began to overcome sin in several of its manifestations, she saw false appetites, irritating character traits, and wrong attractions disappear. She had increasing confidence "that God hath made man upright," ^{Eccl. 7:29.} above sin or temptation. She understood for the first time Mrs. Eddy's words, "Sensualism is not bliss, but bondage." ^{Science and Health, p. 337.}

Within a few months the woman was released from the institution. The authorities had recognized that she had regained her normal mental state and was ready to live in society. She had learned how to stop being immoral and how to claim and express her real selfhood. This resulted in normal living. She had seen the searchlight of the Christ, Truth, the power of spiritual understanding, bring healing and regeneration into her life.

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
yea, our God is merciful....
For thou hast delivered my soul from death,
mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

Psalms 116:5, 8