View source for 25.6 The State of Sinlessness

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The state of [[sinlessness]] is merely this: The whole [[desire]] to [[attack]] is gone, and so there is no reason to [[perceive]] the Son of God as other than he is. The need for [[guilt]] is gone because it has no [[purpose]], and is meaningless without the goal of [[sin]]. Attack and sin are bound as one [[illusion]], each the cause and aim and justifier of the other. Each is meaningless alone, but seems to draw a [[meaning]] from the other. Each depends upon the other for whatever sense it seems to have. And no one could [[believe]] in one unless the other were the [[truth]], for each attests the other must be true.

[[Attack]] makes [[Christ]] your [[enemy]], and [[God]] along with Him. Must you not be [[afraid]] with "enemies" like these? And must you not be fearful of yourself? For you have hurt yourself, and made [[your Self]] your "enemy. "And now you must believe you are not you, but something [[alien]] to yourself and "something else," a "something" to be feared instead of [[loved]]. Who would attack whatever he perceives as wholly [[innocent]]? And who, because he wishes to attack, can fail to think he must be guilty to maintain the wish, while wanting innocence? For who could see the Son of God as innocent and wish him [[dead]]? Christ stands before you, each time you look upon your brother. He has not gone because your eyes are closed. But what is there to see by searching for your Savior, seeing Him through sightless eyes?

It is not Christ you see by looking thus. It is the "[[enemy]]," [[confused]] with Christ, you look upon. And [[hate]] because there is no sin in him for you to see. Nor do you hear his plaintive call, unchanged in [[content]] in whatever form the call is made, that you [[unite]] with him, and join with him in innocence and [[peace]]. And yet, beneath the [[ego]]'s senseless shrieks, such is [[the call]] that God has given him, that you might hear in him His Call to you, and answer by returning unto God what is His Own.

The Son of God asks only this of you; that you return to him what is his due, that you may [[share]] in it with him. Alone does neither have it. So must it remain useless to both. [[Together]], it will give to each an equal [[strength]] to save the other, and save himself along with him. [[Forgiven]] by you, your savior offers you [[salvation]]. [[Condemned]] by you, he offers [[death]] to you. In everyone you see but the [[reflection]] of what you choose to have him be to you. If you [[decide]] against his proper [[function]], the only one he has in truth, you are depriving him of all the joy he would have found if he fulfilled the role God gave to him. But think not [[Heaven]] is lost to him alone. Nor can it be regained unless the way is shown to him through you, that you may find it, walking by his side.

It is no [[sacrifice]] that he be saved, for by his [[freedom]] will you gain your own. To let his function be fulfilled is but [[the means]] to let yours be. And so you walk toward Heaven or toward [[hell]], but not alone. How [[beautiful]] his sinlessness will be when you [[perceive]] it! And how great will be your [[joy]], when he is free to offer you the gift of [[sight]] God gave to him for you! He has no need but this; that you allow him freedom to complete the task God gave to him. [[Remembering]] but this; that what he does you do, along with him. And as you see him, so do you define the function he will have for you, until you see him differently and let him be what God appointed that he be to you.

Against the [[hatred]] that the Son of God may cherish toward himself, is [[God]] believed to be without the [[power]] to save what He created from the [[pain]] of [[hell]]. But in the [[love]] he shows himself is God made free to let His Will be done. In your brother you see the picture of your own belief in what the [[Will of God]] must be for you. In your [[forgiveness]] will you [[understand]] [[Love of God|His Love]] for you; through your [[attack]] believe He hates you, thinking Heaven must be hell. Look once again upon your brother, not without the understanding that he is the way to Heaven or to hell, as you [[perceive]] him. But [[forget]] not this; the role you give to him is given you, and you will walk the way you pointed out to him because it is your [[judgment]] on yourself. 




[[Category: Chapter 25 - The Justice of God]]
[[Category: Innocence]]