ONE of the basic teachings of Christian Science is that man, in his real individuality, is absolutely sinless. Being sinless, he is immortal; for sin alone is self-destructive. Sinless man is the image of his Maker, and like Him is "of purer eyes than to behold evil." No sinful sense defiles the being of the real man. No unruly, insubordinate element of evil distracts him from the joyous expression of spiritual truth. His sinless selfhood reflects the divine nature, and he embodies the imperishable, spiritual substance of Soul.
This scientific teaching contradicts the belief that man is material and corporeal, and leads thought to another basic precept of Christian Science, namely, that material sense is the only sinner. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 318) Mrs. Eddy has said, "The material senses originate and support all that is material, untrue, selfish, or debased." One who is uninstructed in the teachings of Christian Science, thoughtlessly accepts the subtle suggestion that the physical senses are real elements of his identity. He agrees with their evidence, thus permitting material sense to substitute its false suggestions of a material universe for the immortal consciousness of God and His ideas.
Christian Science challenges the evidence, and even the existence, of these seeming material senses. Mrs. Eddy has said (ibid., p. 278): "Spirit is the only substance and consciousness recognized by divine Science. The material senses oppose this, but there are no material senses, for matter has no mind." The real identity of man, which is incorporeal, is sinless because it embodies no element of false, material sense. On the other hand, material sense has no identity whatever, and its subtle claim to identity is what needs to be destroyed.
