Mary Baker Eddy said to one of her household staff, “The healthiest person is the one who loathes sin the most” (Christian Healer, amplified edition, p. 243).
Sin is wrong thinking, thinking that deviates from knowing Life in Spirit where man is spiritual, the universe is spiritual, and God’s goodness reigns supreme. It’s matter-based thinking.
I don’t consider myself to be a person that loathes much of anything, for I don’t spend my mental time thinking in negative ways. However, I looked up the definition of loathe, and it is “an intense dislike or disgust for.”
“Okay,” I thought. “I do loathe many things. I loathe negativity. I loathe suffering. I loathe disease. I loathe any belief that pulls me down and away from God.”
Suddenly, loathing wasn’t such a bad attitude anymore. There is “good” loathing I decided. And according to Mrs. Eddy, it’s healthy to loathe sin—any type of wrong thinking that makes us feel separated from God, from Life in Spirit, where health is the norm.
Thank you, Evan:)
I don’t think we can ever be too hard on error and this idea aligns beautifully with the passage in Hebrews that declares Jesus, “loved righteousness and hated iniquity.” (Heb. 1:9) Jesus loathed and annihilated anything that didn’t line up Love and with God’s goodness and omnipotence. We have divine authority and dominion to do the same so we are never helpless.
Everything really is about God, who is Presence and Love, Itself. There is no Truth in hatred, dishonesty, deceit, sin, sickness and death. It may be hard to realize this with so much going on in the world. Mrs. Eddy tells us, “Simply count your enemy to be that which defiles, defaces, and dethrones the Christ-image that you should reflect.” (Misc. p. 8:17–19)
It is healthy to loathe this enemy and anything else that would try and obscure and separate us from God and the truth of who we are and who everyone else is.
Thanks again!
Humm . . . . Interesting.
I had always thought that loathing was a mortal-mind emotion that when employed gives reality to that which you loath. I was taught to “Stand at the portal of thought” and REJECT the existence of sin, disease, suffering and negativity from entering in and taking hold.
Your comment got me thinking, Roger. What about this older defn., which includes loathe the adjective? “Not willing to do something.”
The verb loathe descends from Middle English lothen, from Old English lāthian. The related adjective loathsome means “hateful or disgusting,” and the adjective loath means “not willing to do something,” as in “I’m loath to cheat on a test, but I don’t see what choice I have.” Definitions of loathe. verb.
Exactly, Roger, loathing is a quality of so-called mortal mind, which produces its
own illusions. However we are not mortals, but immortals. However we are still needing to grow into what it means to be immortal, and we need to be able to recognise that which is not of God and understand how it is offensive to God to believe it has any reality or any power to influence God’s spiritual idea, man. God is Love, and is pure goodness and
all-adorable.
Mrs. Eddy says we are not to ignore that which is evil,
but to KNOW – i.e. UNDERSTAND spiritually – that the loathsomeness of evil is
not real, and destroy its seeming reality with the spiritual reality, and so be
free from the effects of evil suggestions. We are to use our God-given
dominion over them. But we need to be on guard and recognise their
suggestions – to be watchful and vigilant at all times against them. Stand porter
at the door of thought, as I think you meant in your last sentence – and the rest
of that sentence is what we need to do.
Evan states is clearly above, and Melissa’s post above is excellent in
this respect. So loathing evil and dealing with it through Christian Science,
is a very good thing to do, and what we are expected to do, for ourselves
and our fellow man as Christian Scientists.
Thanks Evan:
i’m ever so greatful for these wonderful ideas that we can always resonate on.
i have been experiencing pain in a tooth. reading Evan’s message this morning , i can
loath that pain. Why?knowing that our Father-Mother never acknowledge a physica
condition neither shoud His childrenl
..
Speaking of the Christ which Jesus epitomized so perfectly Hebrews 1;19 says,
“Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
In referring to the word “character” Mrs. Eddy follows this line of thinking when she wrote
,
“….in its higher meaning, we may assume that the author of this remarkable epistle regarded Christ as the Son of God, the royal reflection of the infinite; and the cause given for the exaltation of Jesus, Mary’s son, was that he “loved righteousness and hated iniquity.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 313:14–19)
Because of smoke in the air a friend commented“fire season is upon us”.
I can loathe that remark as untrue – knowing God created the earth – without dangerous seasons. As Hymn 144 so clearly states “In atmosphere of Love divine, we live, and move, and breathe…”
Appreciate all the comments. Thank you!!
I love that hymn, CRL , Thank you and it is so true – we need to loathe –
dislike, be reluctant to or unwilling to, accept any suggestion in seeing
anyone except as a dear child of God. We can loathe what the material
senses – what we hear or see – that Seem to be true, but in keeping the
First Commandment and in keeping with CS – we need to “see” everyone
as God sees them and us, because this is Truth. It is Love and as the hymn
so rightly states, “He [God] holds us perfect in his love, And we His image
bear”. God sees each of us as a beloved family member .. loving, unselfish,
kind, caring, wanting to do what is best for all others. This dissipates the
smoke of false belief and that is truly living in the “atmosphere of Love divine”.
Guilt is negative and distracting and would make us feel separated from God.
“Escape from guilt swamp” with Richard Bergenheim:
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/umely96vnk
“Never separated from God” By Marie-Luise Bolay:
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/6lhtr1dx3k
Thank you Evan, everyone and J for sharing what has been such an eye-opening blog. I really loved the articles…they were very uplifting.
Thank you, Evan.
I loved this quote from Mrs. Eddy. Thank you for sharing! I hope to carry it with me throughout my day.
Great post! That’s something I love about Jesus too. He never said, “Welp I see you have a 12-year postpartum lesion, but look on the bright, at least you always have an excuse to not go out.” Nope, that apparent silver lining around a dark cloud is actually the shining of the sun.
I thought it was amazing when MBE said the singular thing about Jesus was his absolute rejection of sin/suffering. I think sometimes it can be hard for us to even cognize it.
On that topic, a shout out to the guy who spent years at the pool of Bethesda. We love to make fun of him for trusting magic water before Jesus came around, but he had to literally move there, going all in. He didn’t accept this apparent limitation quietly. No wonder Jesus saw him as ripe fruit. To loathe or say no to any form of limitation is quite the act of rebellion.
Excellent points Jay, thank you! Jesus was never fooled. It made me think of how often we are deceived into believing and consenting to whatever would present itself to us….as in I see it, I feel it, I hear it, so it must be true. “To loathe or say no to any form of limitation is quite the act of rebellion” is a profound thought! 🙂
Wow, Evan and all–thank you!
Love,
Karen
Yes, Evan, I also looked the word loathe up in my English/German dictionary.
How very interesting that it can be.used as positive in Christoan Science, i.e. to loathe against any error or to loathe everything which isn’t from God, the eternal Goodness. I hope, I understand it right. Otherwise I would be happy if anybody correct me in this matter!
Thank you very much, dear Evan and dear SV friends for your very interesting inspirations about the word ‘loathe”! 🙂
The sun shiny sunflowers above are so filled with Spirit, bright and reflecting
Love that are highlighted with inspiration, like the message and comments.
This evening’s sunset, too, is such a beautiful treasure and what a blessing.
Yes, thank you Carol, I see it so, as well, very lovely said! And I just ad that it can also be seen as the shining Christ Light. And the pretty sunflowers also symbolize the light of Life, Truth and Love! ❤️
Yes, Uta, love what you wrote how sunflowers symbolize the light
of Life, Truth and Love. A dear friend who has past to another
realm used to love sunflowers and what you wrote brings lovely
thoughts of her eternal presence to reality, so Thank You! : )
Thanks a lot for wonderful ideas shared by everyone. Thanks Evan sir sharing your thoughts, insights n inspiration to uplift us and to follow the Truth n to Mrs Mary baker eddy.