It’s a common teaching among Christian churches, that man is born a sinner. But this isn’t true! The man of God’s creating was born sinless and perfect in every way. Understanding and demonstrating this reality is a matter of perspective.
When I was a youngster, I was taught through the material senses that I was an athletic incompetent. I was the last boy around the track when running laps in PE (physical education class). I could not climb a rope like all the other boys. During the wrestling section of PE, I would be pinned in a few seconds flat. I didn’t know how to throw a football. I tried to play basketball but was encouraged by the coach to quit. There was nothing physically wrong with me. I just couldn’t do anything athletic with success. So, I decided that athletic incompetency was my fate, and I quit trying to prove otherwise.
Until 40 years later when I took a tennis class with my son and fell in love with the game.
I was a poor player but got determined to improve. I decided that God gave me the ability to express athletic talent just as much as anyone else, and that I could prove it. And with persistence and steadfast determination, I learned the game, and became successful enough to work my way up to playing at a Nationals tennis tournament. The illusion of athletic incompetency was finally broken, and I am grateful.
If someone with vision would have taken me aside 50 years ago and told me that I was capable of being athletic, and to never give up, I might have snapped out of that dream of athletic incompetency much sooner. But that’s okay. I’ve learned the lesson!
The same experience happens to people raised under the illusion that man is born a sinner. The material senses would constantly confirm that sinful behavior, mistakes, poor judgement, and mortality are the realities of man. But the material senses are wrong! They are not reliable indicators of reality. They never have been. Only through spiritual reasoning can correct conclusions be drawn about the realities of man.
Man is born of Spirit, in the image of God (*John 4:24 and Genesis 1:27), the Bible teaches. The Adam mortal was never God’s man, for Adam was taken from the dust of the ground, not created in the likeness of Spirit.
Jesus Christ came to teach us about our divine heritage, that we are the offspring of God, not the product of dust (*John 3:6). God’s offspring are not born sinners. They are sinless. “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11), Jesus would often say to those he healed of sinful behavior. Or in other words, “Live true to your sinless selfhood made in the image of God.”
We each need to claim our sinless selfhood made in God’s likeness. We are not prone to making mistakes, indulging in selfish behavior and messing up all the time. We are intelligent children of God, expressions of the divine Mind, that think and act wisely and for good outcomes.
Yes, sin needs to be admitted when committed so that it can be corrected, but it’s not the primitive state of our being anymore than athletic incompetency was the fact of my being. It never was. I needed to be woken up to reality, and when I was, what tremendous freedom I found!
Each of us can find breath-taking freedom from sin by waking up to the reality of our being. Man’s primitive state is not from senseless dust, but of intelligent Spirit. And Spirit is sinless. We are sinless, in God’s image. “Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death” Science and Health, p. 475, Christian Science explains.
So, shake free of any false teachings you might have picked up in earlier years through the material senses teaching that man is a born sinner. He is not. The true man is born of God, found in Christ, and never capable of sin.
Man is sinless. In God’s image, you are sinless. Claim this as your ideal for identity and experience the awesome freedoms it brings.
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” John 4:24.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” Genesis 1:27.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” John 3:6.
“Man’s primitive state is not from senseless dust, but of intelligent Spirit.” ” … shake free of any false teachings you might have picked up in earlier years through the material senses …” Love this … just the Truth. Thank you Evan. I love the thought that God is the Great Performer and man is His Great Performance. 🙂
This is false teaching. Your words does not match up 2 the teachings of what I’m reading. We all r born as sinners. We worship God in spirit and in truth. God is a spirit and he’s everywhere. We r not spirit because we have bodies and yes we r everywhere as people but not as a 1 person. I can’t b everywhere as a person at the same time as God. Example: I would have 2 take a flight 2 Cali or drive and look how long it would take me but God is there already. He’s every where at the same time. God is not a physical being limited 2 1 place. He is present everywhere and he can b worship anywhere at anytime. It is not where we worship that counts but how we worship. That’s what John 4:24 is talking about.
Hi Lavell,
It is a true teaching, per the spiritual meaning of the Scriptures, and the message of Love Jesus brought to humanity. You are correct in the sense that a mortal is born of sin, but God’s man was not born a mortal. God’s man was created in God’s perfect image. Adam, was a mortal, not created in God’s image. It’s the “false man,” that Jesus came to save humanity from. As we follow Christ, we discover ourselves, not in Adam, but in God’s image, free of sin. That’s our original primitive state as a child of God to claim and express now! Love to you.
Thank you so much, this is such an important truth, for ourselves as well as to see others that way!
I especially love the sentence «So, shake free of any false teachings you might have picked up in earlier years through the material senses teaching that man is a born sinner. He is not. The true man is born of God, found in Christ, and never capable of sin. »
Sin, limitations, shortcomings, incompetency, bad habits … oh! yes we can shake them off ! What freedom that gives and such a feeling of joy. I guess that will be part of my praying, as M.B. Eddy put it in her letter to James Neal « Pray daily, never miss praying, no matter how often « Lead me not into temptation » … (Can be found in CS Journal January 1991) and , as you say « claim my sinless selfhood made in God’s likeness »!
A bit similar to your experience, I was labelled ( and maybe additionally labelled myself) as incompetent in drawing/painting.
As I was praying one day about expressing more Soul, my CS teacher told me that this was already part of me. I accepted it, even though there was no immediate effect.
Recently I met a schoolfriend again, after more that 40 years, who had always helped me at school during art lessons so that I could avoid the worst mark. And now she was teaching art – oil and acrylic painting. Just for fun I asked her if she would accept me . Not only did she, but I enjoy it so much, and , in all humility, I must say that after one year I really express quite some talent ( what she says) !!
Thanks again !!
Oh, Evan, thank you so very much for your today`s wonderful teaching us the absolute Truth about our real self as the God-created wonderful man with unlimited spiritual qualities and expressions.
When I look back in my life, sometimes I thought how much did I sin, although I went to sundayschool and later to church. I could have done better in a lot of instances. But as Evan says, that sin is not true, that that is not the us God created. And God created all and very very good and capable of all things we love and want to do!
For me your today`s SV is overwhelming wonderful and healing and freeing, thank you a lot!
Evan, the foto above is absolutely sweet; it might be you or your son, because he has that lovely, curly short hair as you have today.
Happy Monday to all, and I am looking forward to all the coming wonderful comments! 🙂
Thanks, Evan-
I was thinking along these same lines in the wee hours. To look at the headlines, cruel treatment of each other seems to be on the rise. We must look deeper, like Jesus did, and know there is no such character flaw or any flaw in God’s design. The more we understand our Creator, the more we can see that cruel, sinful and ruthless behavior or any sort of deficiency does not and cannot come from our divine Source. I love this passage from SH pg. 390, “It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony.” We must reason things out from God’s perspective and then the ideas and/or steps we need to take will come. I loved your tennis analogy. You had what you needed along:)) We all do and I am so grateful for that❤️
Thank you for sharing this. A lot of good to ponder here.
Such a wonderful sharing of truth. it is very helpful to know we are not limited by someone else’s assessment but can and should be first recognized as a perfect child of God. Unrestricted in the wholesomeness of spiritual light of divine love. Thank you Evan for sharing this truth.
I grew up knowing I was a sinner. This led to trying to be “good.” However, I would usually fail and then believed I was doomed to being punished. Hence, it became my thought that I was “bad.”
Christian Science has such a freeing, wholesome, and healthy way of thinking-I am forever grateful to God for the opportunity to hear of and learn about and to be changed by this spiritual teaching. To reason out from God’s holy perfection is a precious gift and responsibility making unceasing prayer a reality. I appreciate your words, Evan, and your time and effort, as well as all the wonderful people sharing their inspiring comments.
Evan,
What a wonderful Spiritview! I love your testimony and demonstration of empowerment and goodness! This is one of the most wonderful things about Christian Science! 🙂
“The admission to one’s self that man is God’s own likeness sets man free to master the infinite idea.”
SH 90:24-25
One of the precious gifts of the teachings of Christian Science: that man is not a sinner. How could the reflection of the one Good, be unlike his/her Creator? Through education and acceptance of false beliefs, we miss the mark of our innate goodness. Once awakened by the Christ-Truth we become free to be who God designed us to be. No flaws, no deficiencies, no sinful tendencies. We reflect all the qualities of God. The intelligence of Mind. The creativity of Soul. The honesty of Truth. The integrity of Principle. The vibrant activity of Life. The joyful harmony of Spirit. The tenderness of Love. All the false “stuff” we’ve accepted about ourselves and others falls away in the understanding that each precious person in the universe is God’s perfectly and beautifully designed idea.
Much to ponder here! thank you so much, Evan! Just love this:
“Each of us can find breath-taking freedom from sin by waking up to the reality of our being.”
I love all of your Spiritviews, but this one is especially excellent! My question is why
do main stream Christian religions believe that man is sinless and material when it
it says differently in the same Bible we all use as mentioned in your above blog? Thank
You once again for your insight.
When the heart blooms
In God’s Love
All things are possible…
Now Life understood
as a mystery, dancing
within an endless potential,
On of path of never ending
expansion into Knowing
Inspiring article, Evan!
But your second sentence throws me for a bit of a loop: “The man of God’s creating was born sinless and perfect in every way.” In S&H 228, 27-30 it states: “Never born and never dying, it were impossible for man, under the government of God in eternal Science, to fall from his high estate.”
Also, in S&H 182:17-21 states: “Divine Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born and as never dying, but as coexistent with his creator.”
If we are born, indicating we are born into matter, than we are already in a belief of life in matter that has to be eventually worked out. I think I know what you’re trying to say, but could you clarify? Thx.
Hi Evan, great post. Is it possible to give an example of “Live true to your sinless selfhood made in the image of God.” For me this seems like such a tall order and I am unclear as to what it really entails? I am thinking, to live sinless is to rebuke the testimony of the 5 senses and totally overcome the world. However, we have not overcome the world while we are seeking to have less of the world’s pains and more of the world’s pleasures and profits. Thanks for your wisdom.
Hi Mike,
To answer your question, it requires redefining the word “born.” Jesus replied to Nicodemus, who asked what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, that he needed to “be born again.” Of the Spirit. Which is referring to his thinking reasoning out from a spiritual basis, rather than a fleshly one. So when you wrote, “If we are born…into matter,” that is a material concept of birth. But in spiritual truth, you were fully conceived and created in the Mind of God long before any human parents knew anything about you. You have a perfect identity made in the likeness of God that existed long before any belief of life in matter. And you still have this perfect individuality to claim. The physical body you presently identify with will dissolve into dust. But the real you lives forever in Spirit. To be “born again,” is to see yourself from this spiritual point of view, rather than identifying with embodied dust.
Hope that helps!
Yes, that helps, thank you!
You served up a ace today… beautifully expressed and written.
Great post and clarification of Mike’s question. Thank you.
Thanks to all! Yes, how can a sweet, innocent, pure little baby or child be a sinner? No, no, no!
And we are all precious children of God, beloved of our one Father-Mother, whether we are that small child or, to human sense, a person of more experience (which some might call “years.) Sometimes it seems difficult to see that sinless nature of ourselves and others, but it is worth the effort. It brings more love and harmony into our experience. Thanks, Evan!
I look forward to your posts. They are very inspirational. Thank you!