09 Jul 1916

Some of the errors and deficiencies of Christian Science. Emotions, affections, desires, sin and the "mortal mind". The mind is not the originator of desires, appetites and emotions.

I am here, Jesus.

I come today to tell you that I am pleased with you in your efforts to find the truth of what we have taught as to God and of the relation of man to Him.

I have been with you in your reading of several days past, and have observed the effect upon you of the contrast between the beliefs and teachings of men as you have read them and the teachings of truth that we have revealed to you in our messages.

While these writings that you have been reading have in them some things of truth, yet there are many things that are wholly untrue, and the mere results of speculation.

Today, if you feel in condition, I will instruct you as to some of the errors and deficiencies of Christian Science, and the want of the true comprehension of its founder of the realities of being.

She writes and teaches that there is nothing real in sin and error and disease, and that their apparent existence is wholly due to the mortal mind, and that when this mind denies the existence of these things, they will no longer exist. Well, in this assertion there is a large grain of truth, but in order to understand and apply this truth, more than a mere denial of their existence must be taught and believed by man.

It is true that God never created anything of evil - or that which is not in harmony with His nature and essence, which are only good - and that to ascribe the existence of these evils and discords to God is erroneous and blasphemous. But the fact remains that these things exist, and the mere denial of their existence does not remedy the harmful results that flow from such existence.

Man suffers from evil and error and disease and has always so suffered since the fall from his state of perfection, and always will suffer in consequence of there being in his consciousness these things of reality, and the mere calling them the result of "Mortal mind," will not explain their existence or furnish a remedy by which they may be gotten rid of.

First arises the necessity of understanding how, and by what means these things came into existence, and then it will become easier for the understanding of the means and the way by which they may be eliminated from the life and apparent nature of mankind.

As I have already told you, these things, foreign to God's creation, were created by man alone in the excessive and unlawful exercise of his will power in following out the suggestions and desires of his animal appetites, which unduly asserted themselves when man lost a part of his spirituality by his disobedience.

Their creation was the result of something more than what the founder of that Science calls the "mortal mind", for the mind is only a part of man's being; and while the faculties of the mind must be used in the operation of all the powers and qualities of man, yet the mind is not the originator of all his desires and appetites and emotions. The emotional nature and affections are distinct from the mere mind, or the intellectual faculties, and as regards sin and error, are generally the creators of the same, although the mind may and does foster and increase these things so created.

Then man must understand that these excrescences to his perfect creation are real and existing, and result in his own damnation and alienation from the good, and are antagonistic to his original and natural condition of perfection - and that they cannot be swept out of existence by the mere assertion that they are not real.

Again, man must understand that they are the creatures primarily of the inordinate exercise of the animal appetites and desires, and not of the exercise of the mind, and (that they are) to be eradicated by the same process in reverse order as was used in their creation.

Of course, it must not be lost sight of that in using this process, the faculties of the mind must be brought into operation, just as they were in the creation of these existences. And the great fact to be remembered in this process is that these things are real, and not things of the mere imagination which is the equivalent of the founder's "mortal mind".

Now, when man grasps the meaning, as thus explained, of what these things really are, and how they came into being, then he will the more readily comprehend the way or the means by which they are to be destroyed and never again permitted to become a part of his being; for while they do not by nature belong to his being, yet by reason of his being the creator of them, they are, so far as his consciousness is concerned, together with all the results flowing therefrom, a part of his being; and that part which keeps him in discord with the laws controlling his own existence. The purity of his true being is always besmirched by the impurities of his own artificial being, and always will be, until he eliminates these impurities which, as to him and to his fellow man, are real, persistent existences.

The will, however, is the great force that must be used in the destruction of these excrescences, and as this will power in man is free and untrammeled, and in its operations follows the suggestions and desires of the appetites - both animal and spiritual - of man, it therefore becomes apparent that these appetites and desires must first be controlled and directed in that direction that will cause the will to be exercised in such a manner as to lead the thoughts and deeds towards the realization of the desires and appetites in harmony with God's laws.

As sin and evil are not the creatures of the spiritual desires, but wholly of the animal, then to eradicate from man's being these things of evil and sin, the efforts of man must be directed towards the supplanting of the unlawful and inharmonious animal desires and appetites, by appetites and desires arising from the same source that is in harmony with the laws creating this very source.

Man was created by God with animal appetites just as he was created with spiritual aspirations, and the one is just as harmonious with the laws of his creation as the other, and the loss of the spiritual aspiration, or the perversion of the animal appetites, similarly causes man to become out of harmony with these laws. So that man in order to become free from these foreign parts of his being, must strive, not by a denial of their reality, but by the effort to supplant them, to recreate, as it were, in himself the animal appetites that are consistent and in harmony with those which were his when he was made the perfect man; in other words, to destroy the beings of his own creation, and possess only those of the creation of God.

Of course, in this effort, he will have to use his mind, mortal or otherwise, but in addition, he will also have to exercise the faculties of his emotional and affectional nature, which are not of the mind but the soul. Mere negation or belief will not be sufficient, but desires and cravings for these things which engender sin must be supplanted by desires and craving for those things which are in harmony with his creation.

So, I repeat, the teachings that sin and error and disease are not real, and are no part of man's being, as he now exists and lives, is erroneous and when not understood, harmful, and not sufficient to bring about the regeneration of man.

In one sense it is true that sin and error and disease are not real, but that means that so far as God's creation of man is concerned they have no existence, for He created only that which was good and in harmony with His perfect laws. But as man is a creator as well as a creature, and as these things are the creatures of man alone, then so far as the being of man is involved, they have a reality which will persist until their creator - man - has destroyed them.

I am pleased that you gave me the opportunity to write today, and am also glad to find you in good condition.

Your friend and brother

JESUS