Are you clear that you have no obligations toward sin today?
Sin is another word for wrong thinking. It refers to doing the wrong thing rather than the right thing.
Telling a lie is a sin. It’s the wrong thing to do.
Lashing out at a family member, holding a resentment, being envious of a neighbor’s possession, greed, uncontrolled lust, laziness, and their kin are sins. They are the wrong thing to do because they bring bad results.
Oftentimes, it feels like we have no choice but to sin. In our belief, “we can’t help but get angry” we think, and then we yell at the nearest person about how angry we are. Or perhaps we lust after something that doesn’t belong to us and keep thinking all day about how we want what they have, and so forth.
But the truth is, we are not helpless in the face of sin. We are divinely empowered to say “No” to sin, and “Yes” to thinking and acting in moral and spiritual ways that bring good results.
Sin has no power over us. We have power over sin! There is nothing imperative about sin.
God is the only power to acknowledge in your life, and honoring God’s presence leads to moral decisions and spiritual outcomes that bring good results.
Side with God, not with sin, and live free of sin’s baneful effects.
Flourish in right thinking, spiritual thinking, moral thinking!
Harbor no conscious or unconscious belief that sin is necessary. It’s not. Truth is necessary. Side with Truth and thrive in right thinking and activity!
Very nice — I can definitely work with that today. It certainly expands (for me at least) the definition of sin. I seem to find myself working practically all the time, taking little “down time” for myself. I also seem to “love my neighbor” more readily & more easily than I do myself. I’m gradually learning to “more Mary, less Martha” … this puts a new perspective on it all!
Thank you for this comment! It is such a present blessing for me!
Are there people that really believe they do have an obligation to sin? They know what is right/wrong and “choose” to sin? . . . . interesting.
Hi Roger, thanks for asking your question. It brought to thought a family member that is Catholic. In catechism class a nun explained that the commandment “Thou Shalt Not Kill” means more than literally killing someone. It means “not killing” someone’s spirit. My family member lives by this by not speaking ill of anyone, making someone feel inferior, being mean, etc. And, they do not let someone “kill their spirit” by taking offense if someone is unkind to them.
Eve (the Genesis 2 mortal version of man) said she was beguiled by the serpent. It is a daily challenge not be beguiled/deceived/feel obligated to engage with thoughts presented to us that are not our own – that come from the mortal/carnal mind and not divine Mind. The word sin always resonates with me as being separated from God.
Wow. Very helpful. Thanks.
Thank you Evan for this deeply resonant post (and for all your daily treatments). I sometimes wonder if I’m wasting my time in trying to overcome/see through less-than-perfect human traits when I don’t seem to be making much progress and your post has greatly helped and encouraged me.
J – Thank you for your clear, helpful and thought-provoking comments which i have copied for future reference.
Also thanks for the many links you post to relevant articles.
Love to all SV family
If one believes that he/she is born into sin, or is being punished for Adam and Eve’s fall (which some people do) or that we are hardwired to sin, then sin seems inevitable, But aren’t we grateful that Christian Science teaches that man is the image and likeness of God, pure and holy, and that God created us to have dominion over all that suggests otherwise?(From Genesis in the Holy Bible). Much to think about here. Thank you,Evan
Roger, I get your point, but it seems to me that humanly speaking it’s likely nearly everyone on some level “believe(s) they do have an obligation to sin” when considered in Evan’s definition as “sin is another word for wrong thinking.” Probably not “traditional” sins like lying, stealing, murder, etc., but resentment, addictions, self-righteousness, hurt feelings, laziness, lack of self-control, etc., etc. – all things faced by many people these days who genuinely feel they can’t change their circumstances. Thus, they are “obligated” to go along with them. Thanks to Evan for reminding us that we are free of that necessity and “sin” (in whatever guise) has no power over us.
Perfect! ❣️
impersonal….selflessness… how sweet It is..
whether guilt or doubt anguish.. on and on is…. “Honing in”
hit MUTE and
Harken, ..hear an angel sing ..
Turning thought to all there is to love about God, seeing through God’s loving eyes, knowing though Mind’s infinite allness, feeling the tender love our Father has for us and every little one — that’s the antidote
Powerful post, Evan. Thank you.
Thank you, Evan, for clarifying more what sin is. A well known religious person
I have seen sharing their prayer line, tells us to acknowledge that we are “sinners”.
Looking at it from Spirit View’s point of view .. that would be believing in anything
that is not with the Christ thought. In so doing, we are not “guilty” of anything, really,
because in God’s perception, sin never happened. I’m not sure if I am understanding
this correctly …
Sure I’d love to be free from sin…but HOW? That’s a question I’ve frequently asked myself through the years. I had to read Evan’s post a second time to see the HOW, but it’s right there…
“God is the only power to acknowledge in your life, and honoring God’s presence leads to moral decisions and spiritual outcomes that bring good results.”
I also happened to come across this paragraph this morning where Mrs. Eddy gives us another perspective on HOW to gain freedom from sin:
The sinner has no refuge from sin, except in God, who is his salvation. We must, however, realize God’s presence, power, and love, in order to be saved from sin. This realization takes away man’s fondness for sin and his pleasure in it; and, lastly, it removes the pain which accrues to him from it. Then follows this, as the finale in Science: The sinner loses his sense of sin, and gains a higher sense of God, in whom there is no sin.
(Unity of Good, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 2:6)
Realize God’s presence, power, and love…gain a higher sense (perspective/view) of God. Hmmm…that sounds like a good way to spend a little time on this holiday in the U.S. Happy Memorial Day everyone! Let’s memorialize (honor) God today along with the people that served our country so valiantly!
Thank you RobertH for your thoughtful and helpful ideas
Thank you! I love to consider the word realize as “real-ize” or “making” something real “to us”–in other words, becoming conscious of what already is real. God makes and keeps what’s real, yet God allow us to “realize” it for ourselves by choosing to turn our thoughts from what’s inharmonious (not real) and accept and embrace REALITY (GOOD or God’s constant presence and action.) That’s what free will is for, to be able to CHOOSE good (not evil or wrong, aka sin, nor to have good without understanding it.)
Thank you AD! I think this is a good description of what the Christ, God’s message, does for us.
I so look forward to this lovely blog. Thank-you so much for all the uplifting thoughts.
Since God has given us His Life, there is no death or war. We can be striving to understand the absolute facts of existence, remembering those who served still exist and are held in Love, as we all are.
Thank you everyone for your replies. I get how “Sin” is viewed by other religions and thinking that we are “born sinners” – however being that in CS we are taught that sin is defined as ; “anything unGod like”, and that our task each and everyday is to keep our thinking expressing Divine Mind, it just struck me as odd that such a statement would be made. And BTW, is it not true that you can’t “sin against God” – only yourself?
PS: I think it was the word “Obligation” that threw me. 🙂
The word “obligation” made me see that the world (and theological) view that “we are BORN SINNERS” may make us feel that we are trapped in a certain way and therefore… we CANNOT DO otherwise… a sort of “curse” (just as being hypnotized into doing something because we are supposedly “obligated” to doing something by that hypnosis… but that’s only because we’ve been mesmerized into accepting a wrong belief.)
There’s another way of feeling “obligated”: by circumstance. There may be some who feel trapped in a circumstance at work, for example, or in a teenager peer group, where they must do something wrong (sin) to keep the job, or to advance in the job, or to have “fun” or to “belong.” This is another case where we must realize that no, we are never obligated to do wrong to get something good. This is a complete contra-diction (it’s reversing the Word, reverseing Truth), it’s a lie. Only evil comes from evil (the devil is a liar “and the father of it.”) And only Good produces good. If appearances seem to contradict this, we know we’re not in our true consciousness and we can then fearlessly denounce the false, the mesmerism, and declare the REAL (which is all Good.)
Going back to “curse” as a (mythological) way of “obligating” someone to be/do/feel something – If we think of “curse” and “blessing” in Latin, we see that these two concepts are opposites: a bad-meaning (bad-intention) word and the other, a good-meaning (good intention) word. So how do we counter-act a “curse” (or feeling of being born a sinner, thus being inescapably a wrong-doer (“obligated” to do wrong)? We counter (reverse) the belief in a curse by blessing (pronouncing/declaring/embracing good) Now, who is the Source of the Good Word but God? The Word of God (Truth) is the blessing that frees us from that mistaken notion of being obligated to sin because it is supposed to be our nature.
Of course, one may say “but I’m not thinking that I’m ‘obligated’ to sin, or that I am a born-sinner.” Yet, we need to be very clear that no such general (yet ever impersonal) beliefs have any influence, that they cannot obligate us either. And again, the blessing, is that God is the only, omnipotent and ever-present influence, or Cause and Law to all that has existence.
wow, Roger. I really appreciate your insightful comments
If God’s likeness (such as “Man or Woman”) could sin against itself, this God-likeness would not be God-like…! so we can see the fallacy of this suggestion, which we are often faced with. This is one of the “sins” (mistakes) we have to turn from and choose instead to embrace, affirm, real-ize that God’s Creation (conception) is incapable of sin because it is “good” – i.e., without evil or sinful element.
Hi Roger…In thinking about your comment, I thought of when I was back in college and I would go to events where everyone was drinking alcohol and there was a strong sense of obligation (commitment) to join in. Or when I joined a large company and worked for managers that believed it was okay to lie and cheat and they implied it was my obligation to follow their lead. Or when I’ve been in social situations and people start talking about material health laws and their ailments and make me feel like it’s my obligation to agree with them. I could give many other examples, but my point is world belief can make us think we are obligated to do different things that are inconsistent with God and God’s idea, but we can disagree with that “false obligation”!
I looked up obligation and found one definition is “an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a duty or commitment” and I can see how the idea of there being an obligation to sin seemed odd since as we learn in CS we aren’t ever morally bound to sin. Thank you for your comments! They helped me think more deeply about Evan’s message today!
Ah – Thanks. That does clear it up. Great example !!
Thanks Evan for explaining the definition of sin. Perfectly said- Side with Truth & thrive in right thinking & activity
To Laura Cosentino, who asked, on SV Friday 5/23/25, for additional help for newcomers to CS, beyond just reading Science & Health:
Dear Laura, many wonderful resources were shared by our fellow commenters on that day’s Spiritview for you to explore. Please go back and take a look and please let us know what you think. We are here for you.
A.very powerful spiritual view, dear Evan! And very much to learn from it and from all the so good and healing metaphysical comments. Thank you all very very much – I love you all for it!!!♡
This Spirit View I playing on my thoughts increasingly all day. Thank you Evan.
Thank you Evan.
Un immense merci à Evan et un immense merci à tous pour vos riches partages qui sont si beaux et pleins de bénédictions, Je suis tellement reconnaissante pour tout ce qui nous est offert, ces moments de partage nous soutiennent et renforcent notre profond amour pour la Science Chrétienne, pour Dieu, pour Mary Baker Eddy, pour Jésus et pour tous les chercheurs de la Vérité…Avec tout mon amour. MERCI.
A huge thank you to Evan and a huge thank you to all for your rich sharing which is so beautiful and full of blessings, I am so grateful for everything that is offered to us, these moments of sharing support us and strengthen our deep love for Christian Science, for God, for Mary Baker Eddy, for Jesus and for all seekers of Truth…With all my love. THANK YOU.
The word “SIN” in archery means “missing of the mark”. In Christuan Science that meaning fits. When we sin, we are missing the target of living in Spirit, God’s perfect plan.
I love this Helen from Oregon! I enjoy researching and wanted to see if there was anything else regarding sin and archery. I found this: “Sin And The Archer. The English word “SIN” is actually a term rooted in the ancient Greek and taken from archery. Sin simply means failing to hit the target. It means being less than perfect.”
This opens to other lines of thought like… we have no obligation to disease; no obligation to be affected by lies or dishonesty by someone else; affects of wrong legislation or decisions made by self-serving politicians; and so on. There is only Truth.