For what are mortals expected to be grateful? Certainly not for the belief that they, with no desire or volition of their own, have been placed in a situation from which they need to be saved. It would not be reasonable to expect anyone to rejoice because of the belief that he is mortal, and that he is subject to the sin, sickness, suffering, limitation, and fear that seem to accompany a mortal sense of existence.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says on page 278 of her book "Miscellaneous Writings," "I once wondered at the Scriptural declaration that Job sinned not in all he said, even when he cursed the hour of his birth; but I have learned that a curse on sin is always a blessing to the human race." And Christ Jesus said of sinful mortals: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."
Why, then, should Christian Scientists rejoice and give thanks? Obviously, not because, as mortals, they appear to be in a sad plight, but because they have learned through Christian Science that there is a sure way out of trouble and distress. They have learned and are proving to a considerable extent that the way out of human want and woe is the Christway, the way that was taught and demonstrated by Christ Jesus. This way, Christian Science explains, is the only scientific way of salvation.
