Christian Science teaches the importance of denying disease reality to prevent it from becoming a seeming reality in the mind of the believer. And most students discern quickly how to put down the claims of sickness with affirmations of truth and declarations of spiritual reality.
Christian Science also teaches there is a difference between how one handles sickness and how to treat sin.
Sickness needs to be denied reality to be conquered. Sin needs to be exposed and then can be conquered. But it’s important to remember in handling sin that it never had power to begin with.
Sin is all wrong thinking. Sin is any attitude, disposition or inclination of mortal mind that pulls thought away from God. Sin is selfishness, ego, greed, lust, excess appetite, jealousy, envy, hate, resentment, indifference, self-righteousness, and their kin. Sin is material mindedness. And it can seem very real to the person indulging it. But this is the sticker-pointer to be recognized.
Sin must never be given power!
If we give sin power, how are we to conquer it? It needs to be denied power and stripped of all claims to influence.
For instance, take the battle against gluttony. If we mentally indulge the sin, “I can’t help but eat too much,” we are giving sin power. We are agreeing with our adversary, consenting to its despotic rule and giving in to its wants. We are admitting defeat. We have lost the battle before beginning the fight.
Sin must be denied power. In the above case, thought must recognize its God-given dominion to act intelligently and wisely, with thoughtfulness and care. We are never helpless. Each of us reflects the Mind of God which is in full control of its own thoughts and actions.
Also, if we look at our neighbor and take inventory of their sins and think, “Oh, the poor soul, they are in a hopeless condition,” we have just empowered sin in our mind. And who is to say we won’t fall victim to it in some unforeseen way later unless the error-view is rooted out and stripped of power.
We must be alert to the lies of sin and overrule them, not indulge them.
Mary Baker Eddy wrote,
“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
So, strip sin of all mind and power in your prayers! Don’t be quick to agree with any sensation of helplessness, hopelessness, despair, discouragement, depression or failure. They are sins to be conquered, not partnered with. They do not come from God and do not have power to hold your attention. They can be denied power and overcome. Truth is always on your side!
Thanks for your clear thinking and solid good points here. Just what I need at just the right time!
Your definition of sin as “all wrong thinking” is interesting.I have work to do!
Continuation of Grace’s comment:Recognizing sin in others and not correcting our thought about them, is actually being sinful ourselves. Self righteousness is sinful thinking (obvious where I need to work!) To see man as Jesus did, sinless, perfect, whole is our calling each day. This article is a wonderful call to duty, Evan. Such gratitude for your beautiful mountaintop ideas to cherish each day.
Really good straight talk, Evan. Thank you. Sin is so sneaky-subtle! It would even have us call ourselves “sinners” instead of the sinless ideas of God, which in truth we are.
Still, there is much to be done to demonstrate that sin has no power whatsoever.
Truth will get us there!
As Grace so discerningly said, “Such gratitude for your beautiful MOUNTAIN TOP ideas to cherish each day.”
To help your neighbor, reminds me of the 9th of 10 commandments: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor, Who is thy neighbor? Bar sin from entering in, against him, or yourself. Great to be reminded to take thought up spiritually higher, above material thinking.
I have been going down the track of gluttony and not acknowledging sin and this will change with your identifying the material cause. I will need to work hard to overcome this sinful thinking.
Thanks!
thank you for pointing out the difference – denying reality of sickness or exposing and then conquering sin, …. something I’ve been wondering about, you’ve answered a prayer for me! I’m going to save this somewhere I’ll remember it. thank you again!!!!!!!!!!!
Boy, oh boy, this one’s a keeper. Love the clear thinking. Thanks, Evan.
This is not to argue or even disagree, but to ask clarification of your statement: “Christian Science also teaches there is a difference between how one handles sickness and how to treat sin.”
In S&H [p218] MBE says, “Treat a belief in sickness as you would sin, with sudden
dismissal. Resist the temptation to believe in matter as
intelligent, as having sensation or power. ”
She also says, ” You should treat sickness mentally just as you would
sin, except that you must not tell the patient that he is
sick nor give names to diseases, for such a
course increases fear, the foundation of dis‐
ease, and impresses more deeply the wrong mind-picture. ”
And: Healing the sick and reforming the sinner are one and
the same thing in Christian Science. Both cures require
the same method and are inseparable in Truth.”
Hi Pam,
Your points are valid, but sin still needs to be undone. A liar can’t keep saying he’s a liar while lying. He needs to admit that he’s been lying, and then cease it by understanding God made him honest.
Here’s a quote I was thinking of when writing the above blog.
SH 447:22-27
A sinner is not reformed merely by assuring him that he cannot be a sinner because there is no sin. To put down the claim of sin, you must detect it, remove the mask, point out the illusion, and thus get the victory over sin and so prove its unreality.
Thank you Evan. It is so easy to think of sin as only lust, but it has so many other false mask as well.
Yes! Sickness is the result of sin (wrong thinking), so we can deny the sickness but MUST destroy the wrong thinking.
Thanks, Evan. Your blog is always so enlightening.
Thank you for putting in such clear words , the idea of sin – as any wrong thinking. And especially the idea of looking at our neighbor and their sins, and how that too feeds into our own thinking ! I definitely have to work on actively watching my own thought and how I think about my global neighbor!
Appreciate so much these daily “views”.
All this is easy said and done, but how does a human think when his own son who was brought up in C/S commits a harmful act that can do emotionally irreputally harm to good people who are completely innocent? The act is considered beneficial by the majority.
This statement from Science and Health (pg 404) has helped me greatly with this topic:
> This conviction, that there is no real pleasure in sin,
> is one of the most important points in the theology
> of Christian Science.
One of the temptations of sin is that we derive pleasure (or some type of good) from the act of sinning (e.g. over eating, gossiping, indifference, dishonesty, etc). Therefore, understanding that there is no REAL pleasure in sin, helps to expose the lie of temptation so that we’re not tricked into sinning.
For example, at work (and in other social situations) I often run into people gossiping about other people (i.e. negatively judging other people, self-righteousness, etc.,). I believe the primary reason people do this is in an effort to feel better about themselves. I used to unthinkingly join in, but at some point it occurred to me that I didn’t feel better after participating in this activity…I only felt worse. Then the words above from Science and Health came to mind and I understood why this activity left me feeling badly (i.e. it was sinful behavior from which no real pleasure is derived). That realization now makes it easy for me to avoid gossiping and now when I encounter it I try to divert the conversation to some other topic so as to end it altogether.
A lot to think about. be the steward of your thoughts.
N
Thanks Evan.