In his first epistle, John, the beloved disciple, makes the following significant statement: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." What glorious freedom comes with the realization that here and now we are the sons of God, heirs to all good! Man, the image and likeness, or reflection, of God, can no more be separated from God, good, than can the sun's rays be separated from the sun.' As the sun's ray expresses the qualities of the sun, so man forever expresses the qualities of God, infinite, perfect, divine Mind. Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, writes (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 188), "Man is as perfect now, and henceforth, and forever, as when the stars first sang together, and creation joined in the grand chorus of harmonious being."
"But," one may ask, "how about sin, sickness, disease, and death, which seem so real in the daily experience of mankind?" We are all familiar with Jesus' parable of the prodigal son, who had traveled into a far country and wasted his substance in riotous living. When he came to himself, he arose and turned his steps towards his father's house, willing even to become as one of the hired servants. Was it necessary for the prodigal son to endure the suffering, hunger, and humiliation which he experienced? No, for his father ran to meet him while he was still a long way off, and on their return to the house, had a feast prepared for him. The best robe was brought to him, shoes were placed on his feet, and a ring on his finger. These blessings were in readiness for him and awaiting his acceptance, evidencing the sonship and love which never had been lost. Though, in belief, he had separated himself from his home and the love of his father, they had always been there for him to accept. He had turned away from them, and in consequence had seemed to be enveloped in sin and its resultant suffering.
To realize man's likeness to God, we must subdue sin; and thus we prove man's heritage, his sonship with the Father, and his God-given dominion. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy writes (pp. 475, 476): "Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. The real man cannot depart from holiness, nor can God, by whom man is evolved, engender the capacity or freedom to sin. A mortal sinner is not God's man." There are not therefore, in reality, two kinds of man, one mortal and the other immortal. The only man there really is, is made in the image and likeness of God: and each of us, in his true being, is that man now.
