The primary object of Christian Science is the healing of sin. Many physical healings are the result of this mental and moral correction. But how are false inclinations overcome? Christian Science clearly shows the way. Mary Baker Eddy writes in our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 327): "The way to escape the misery of sin is to cease sinning. There is no other way."
The stumbling block, however, in the pathway of deliverance from sin is a mortal's belief in the pleasures of sin. To refrain from wrongdoing by sheer will power while retaining the false desire is not sufficient. Our Leader says (ibid., p. 322), "A man who likes to do wrong—finding pleasure in it and refraining from it only through fear of consequences—is neither a temperate man nor a reliable religionist."
Christian Science shows that the only "refuge from sin," from the belief in an intelligence or Mind apart from God, is in spiritualization of thought. Mere willful determination in our effort to combat error and self-condemnation are akin to our hitting out against the mist. The Psalmist declared (Ps.46:1), "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." What a blessed relief it is to arise out of the mist or thralldom of the senses, expressed in sin, sickness, sorrow, or lack, into a sense of God's allness and ever-presence.
