As a child, I thought I had a clear understanding of sin. Fighting with my brother, disobeying my parents, and not doing all my household chores topped the list of sins to which I would confess at church every week..
By the time I was a young adult, I hungered to know more about God, but felt confused about sin and what bearing, if any, it had on my life. This uncertainty changed dramatically when two things occurred: I began studying the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, and I had a life-changing experience in regard to the healing of sin and sickness.
I was in my first year of law school at the time, and awoke one morning feeling very weak. When I finally made it to the bathroom and peered in the mirror, I was frightened by what I saw. My face was swollen beyond recognition.
I didn’t feel strong enough to sit up in bed and read Science and Health, so a roommate kindly read to me. I remember listening intently and pondering, over and over, something I heard: “To cure a bodily ailment, every broken moral law should be taken into account and the error be rebuked” (p. 392). As I reasoned that a broken moral law constitutes sin, I was struck by the concept that sin is linked to sickness and must be addressed when healing something.
I began an honest self-examination of what sins I may have recently committed, and I saw quite suddenly that a sin is not just a wrongful act but anything that would separate us from God, or good. On the heels of this came the realization that I had been holding unkind thoughts about a friend, which made me irritable and impatient with her. And I recognized that in doing so I had broken a moral law because the Bible says that God is Love, and that loving our neighbor as ourselves fulfills God’s law (see I John 4:8; Romans 13:10).
My greatest need then was to love more.
With this small epiphany, a wonderful transformation occurred. Within 24 hours, my face and strength returned to normal.
This exposure of the latent sin—indulging negative or unloving thoughts—led me to vigorously deny that anger, impatience, cheerlessness, and other shades of negative emotions had power over me. I prayed steadfastly to overcome unkind and impatient thoughts with the warmth of divine Love, knowing that this infinite Love alone governed me. As Mrs. Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, writes, “Immortal man demonstrates the government of God, good, in which is no power to sin” (Science and Health, p. 405).
The healing also prompted me to begin a careful study of the Bible and Science and Health for a deeper understanding of the relationship between pure thoughts and health. The Apostle Paul, who emphasized the importance of the quality of our thoughts, said, “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). The renewing of our mind that Paul refers to is grounded in the teaching and healing practice of Christ Jesus, who instructed a man he had healed of a long-standing illness to “sin no more,” if he wanted to remain healthy (John 5:14).
Interestingly, in an allegory illustrative of man’s God-given freedom from sin and sickness, Mrs. Eddy refers to Christ Jesus as “our great Teacher of mental jurisprudence” (Science and Health, p. 441). He demonstrated that God’s law, the law of divine Love and Truth, governs the human mind and, thereby, human acts. He proved that sin is lawless, not sanctioned by God, and so we can claim our dominion over sin.
Mrs. Eddy explains in Science and Health: “To hold yourself superior to sin, because God made you superior to it and governs man, is true wisdom. To fear sin is to misunderstand the power of Love and the divine Science of being in man’s relation to God,—to doubt His government and distrust His omnipotent care” (p. 231).
Understanding our pure and sinless heritage as children of God, and our divine right to hold ourselves superior to sin, enables us to shut our mental door on unwelcome thoughts that knock for entrance. I like to think of this as important quality control work, where I am both the supervisor and the benefactor of the good work done. It reminds me of St. Paul’s instruction to the members of the church of Corinth to bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:5). We do this by yielding moment-by-moment to what God, divine Mind, is thinking and knowing about His creation. Holding every thought to this Christly standard of love and purity blesses us with spiritual yields of serenity, joy, and health.
