The teaching of Christian Science that God made man free is a clarion call for us to awaken to the truth of God's presence and power and claim our freedom from the aggressive arguments of material sense. Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health (p. 227): "Christian Science raises the standard of liberty and cries: 'Follow me! Escape from the bondage of sickness, sin, and death!' Jesus marked out the way. Citizens of the world, accept the 'glorious liberty of the children of God,' and be free! This is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs, crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and defaced the tablet of your being." This is an alerting passage to read, to study, and to heed, for we are told in no uncertain terms that material sense is an illusion and that it claims to harm us if we believe it is real.
An illusion is a delusion, a deception, something which does not exist but which we think we see or feel. We might believe that 2 X 3 =11. We might see it written a million times; but we would be deluded if we accepted it, for it has no reality and does not exist. As long as we believe it, we shall have discord. Yet, all the time we are believing it, the truth that 2 X 3= 6 is right where we are to correct the error. It is necessary, however, for us to know the mathematical truth and apply it to the problem in order to break from the illusion. These truths are brought out in the fourteenth chapter of Acts. We read: "There sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: the same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked."
"Being a cripple from his mother's womb" would indicate that the belief of material birth had opened the door to the crippling sense of mortal mind. Paul's clear perception of man, made in God's likeness, hence eternally perfect, destroyed the illusion of material sense and brought to light a glimpse of man's perfect freedom.
