If you had been living a moral, law-abiding, blameless life and were suddenly accused of being a thief, wouldn't you hasten to proclaim your innocence?
Are we just as quick to say "not guilty" when it appears we are sick, too old, too poor, and so on? As God's child, man is not subject to such conditions but is under the divine law of good—of health, joy, love. This spiritual law does not give us the right to break the justly conceived statutes of government. But when the material senses, or mortal mind—disregarding God, the one and only source of true law—would claim that there is another law, inherent in material existence, which makes sickness natural, we can resist it. Such law suggests that good can lead to evil, sickness can be the natural outcome of doing a good deed, sorrow can come in exchange for kindness. And mortal mind sits as both the accuser and the judge, who promptly sentences the alleged "criminal" to be punished for breaking this false law.
Christian Science teaches that if we seem to have such a verdict passed on us, we can rejoice that the case is not closed. We have a God-given right to health and joy. Through Christ, Truth, we can claim and exercise that right. The first thing we need is a clearer understanding of God's law. God's law decrees that there is no life, substance, intelligence, pleasure, pain, or truth in matter. All that is real is of God, infinite Life, Spirit, Mind. When we believe that there is reality of any sort in matter, we err. To err, even unintentionally, is to break God's law in a degree. This predisposes us to discord and suffering until we correct our thoughts and actions. Our redemption and salvation come from repentance and reformation. We learn in Christian Science that the punishment will end as soon as the sin is completely removed from thought and desire. Man's God-given innocency and purity, which in reality were never lost, will again be apparent.
