Even when someone has fully embraced the concept of God as infinite Love (a concept I have so cherished from my lifelong study of Christian Science), it may still be hard for them to recognize when they are subtly falling for common, incorrect views about divine wrath and punishment. This mistaken sense of God can creep up as something benign, like, “Well, you made a mistake, so now you must pay the penalty.”
Often behind a sense of blame, guilt, and punishment are commonly held religious beliefs of man as weak, inclined toward mistakes, and easily tempted. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, refers to this in her writings as “scholastic theology.” Scholastic theology typically involves a god whose creation includes good and evil, and who tests us to see if we can resist evil’s attraction. These beliefs need to be detected and handled in prayer so that they will not impede spiritual growth and progress.
Often behind a sense of blame, guilt, and punishment are commonly held religious beliefs.
The third chapter of Genesis in the Bible illustrates this. It presents a first mess-up, when Eve is disobedient to the Lord God and eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden. Then she offers the fruit to Adam, who eats it too. The result is that they realize they are naked and feel ashamed. When they hear the voice of the Lord God asking them what happened, Adam blames Eve. She accepts the blame; nevertheless, they are both punished and kicked out of the garden.
While many people read the account of Adam and Eve as a factual account of the beginning of creation, there is ample scholarly evidence that it is allegorical and meant to teach lessons. It is juxtaposed with Genesis 1, which establishes God’s entirely spiritual creation, with man incapable of mistakes and punishment, since God made everything “very good.” There is no evil in the divine creation. The first chapter of Genesis is foundational in Christian Science.
Another example of scholastic theology comes from the popular concept termed “scientific materialism,” which declares that nothing beyond the physical exists. Scientific materialism rejects the story of Adam and Eve as factual, but it does not reject the notion of a dualistic creation—one of both good and evil. So while it may at first seem at odds with a traditional religious view, they are actually similar. They are both based on a concept of man as composed of flawed matter and finiteness.
Indeed, basic to this theory of life in matter—with creation as the product of material reproduction—is finiteness. It embraces the notion of imperfection, and therefore endeavors to teach ethics based on human standards and make allowances for mistakes, while struggling to find appropriate ways to punish and correct dangerous and harmful behavior.
What’s missing from this, though, is the powerful, tender redeeming love of God, infinite Love. Making mistakes is its own punishment; when we detect guilt or blame, we can immediately reject them as impersonal to us and wrong about man’s true nature—an imposition from scholastic theology that falsely educates us into believing in a punishing god or a godless finiteness. Spiritual growth helps us let go of any views of ourselves or others that are unlike God.
Does this mean that mistakes are acceptable or glossed over? Definitely not. We correct mistakes by letting go of human will and turning to the redeeming power of God, Love. And this not only corrects any mistaken or wrong behavior, but blesses and benefits all.
One day years ago, I promised our children we would go to the pet store to get a kitten. They were so excited about bringing home a furry friend, but there were no kittens, only a puppy. Against my better judgment, given our family and housing situation, I let myself get talked into bringing the puppy home. It was quickly evident that this had been a mistake. The puppy repeatedly knocked over the baby, chewed on everything, and escaped into the neighborhood every time the older children opened the door. It seemed impossible to find the time or resources to take adequate care of this puppy.
Because I had always prayed to get a better understanding of the allness of God when I was in need, one morning I specifically addressed this situation in prayer. I find that prayer, magnifying and deeply worshiping the nature of God as supreme and infinite Love, often uncovers some underlying and subtle mistake in how I’m thinking and acting that isn’t in line with what is true of God’s creation. In this case, the damning thought was that I’d really messed up, and there was nothing I could do but tough it out. The suggestion was that I deserved to suffer.
Right on the heels of that was the thought that God is not a god of punishment, but infinite Love, which has infinite resources with which to bless the entire situation. I realized that if we needed to find the money to buy a fence, or get some help with training the puppy, or help the children be better pet owners, we could do this with willingness and joy. And none of us, including the neighbors, could be punished.
A burden-lifting sense of innocence flooded my heart.
I opened my copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy to a favorite passage: “Remember that man’s perfection is real and unimpeachable, whereas imperfection is blameworthy, unreal, and is not brought about by divine Love” (p. 414). I realized that the sense of imperfection (and not God’s man) is really to blame; and when we challenge this, we see more clearly that man as God’s idea is always as perfect, innocent, and blameless as God. A releasing, spiritually baptizing, burden-lifting sense of innocence flooded my heart. I felt inspired to get information about fences.
That same afternoon, before any further steps were taken, there was a knock on our front door. A neighbor we barely knew asked if we would like to find a new home for our puppy. He explained that when our puppy got out, he would run down to his yard and “talk” to his dog through the fence. They were best buddies. The neighbor said that his son was looking for a dog so they could all go fishing and hunting together. The transfer happened that evening! We were all thrilled to know that we could still see the puppy every day, and that he would have the best possible companionship and activity. We soon welcomed a new kitten into the family.
I still have to be alert to the ways that blame and guilt, originating from false human concepts about God and man, get me thinking and acting in a way that is not in accord with my truest sense of God as all-good Love. The notion that mistakes, blame, condemnation, and guilt are a natural, even necessary part of existence is so prevalent that we can easily find ourselves drifting along, believing that we deserve a physical problem, a rough financial time, a relationship estrangement, etc.; or that we are to blame for not knowing what we need in order to be healed.
When things need correction in our lives (and they often do), the first and most effective correction is always to reject the mistaken notion that God messed up and created a fallible, dualistic creation composed of good and evil. Our good God is Love, and we are God’s innocent, good reflection. God’s law of goodness is operating right now to bring out harmony, and meet each and every human need.
