The sacrifice of living creatures on the altar of some unknown god sounds strange to most of us. Historically, people have transferred their guilt, expiated it on the altar of sacrifice, and felt that the wrath of some threatening force had been appeased. Have such customs long since passed from the scene? Literally, perhaps, but mentally many sophisticated people are still looking for an altar to lay their guilt upon. But the guilt that plagues mankind today can only be purged by those who learn the true atonement in Spirit.
Christian Science gives the word "atonement" a higher meaning: at-one-ment with God. When mortals awake to the inseparable nature of God, divine Love, and its idea, the real man, they will behold their own selfhood in spiritual glory. True selfhood, reflecting God, is ever innocent and free. The states of mortal thinking that produce guilt are no more than false beliefs stemming from the lie that suggests man can be separated from God, divine Mind.
Whatever generates guilty feelings cannot be based in the infinite Mind—the source of all good. Guilty feelings stem from the unintelligent carnal mind, which Paul labeled as "enmity against God."Rom. 8:7; Unhealed guilt needs to be healed, however, for it can be a heavier load to the human spirit than any chain that ever bound an ancient victim of sacrifice. But unlike material bands, mental chains are almost always self-forged. Divine Love teaches one to loose the chains of guilt that bind him and to set aside the often accompanying desire for self-punishment. Such unhealthy states of thought distort one's views of his true being.
