Several years ago, I attended a church service for which Mary Ann had been invited to give a homily. As part of her talk, she read some of the inspiring messages she had received from Jesus for her book Messages from Jesus. Here is one of them: “My life and death – this sacrifice – offers perfection for all time, a release of all karmic debt, forgiveness of sin known and unknown, for those who listen to the truth and live in love.” (Third Edition, 2009, p. 177) After the service, one of the attendees, referring to what had been said about sin, told me that his church didn’t believe in sin. I assumed that he and other members of his church no longer accepted traditional attitudes about sin, overlaid with concepts of guilt, condemnation and vengeance, so I told him that in Mary Ann’s book Jesus gives the word “sin” a definite meaning, free of the judgmental concepts people often associate with it.
My comments did not seem to satisfy the man, who appeared to believe that sin doesn’t even exist and that the word should not be used. Much later, it occurred to me that perhaps he had studied A Course in Miracles, in which, from a higher perspective, evil, sin and guilt are seen as insubstantial – illusory and unreal. For, in the supreme state of consciousness that the Course and Messages from Jesus point us toward, all things are unified in the One, and the world that we perceive with our senses and mortal mind is but a dream.
In Messages from Jesus, Jesus clarifies the meaning of sin and other pivotal concepts found in religious and spiritual teachings. On page 175, Jesus says, “Sin is the human conception of the action and the result of wrongdoing. Karma is what you receive as a result of good or sinful action.” Wrongdoing is generally thought of as action that violates spiritual or moral principles.
In Messages, Jesus does not judge anything as bad. He simply tells us what helps or hinders our spiritual growth. But humans often conceive of sin and sinners in judgmental, or even vengeful, ways. Many people regard sin as hateful and want to see sinners “pay” for their actions, perhaps even by suffering in hell. To think this way is unloving and unforgiving. Making no effort to free the mind from negative habits of thought that keep us from advancing to a higher level of awareness is, in itself, a sin.
Throughout Messages from Jesus, Jesus encourages us to live in oneness and love, without judgment. He helps us to understand that we should see everything from a higher perspective and learn to love all actions and all people. He says, “To find the divinity in all things as one, you must go beyond judgments and comparisons, and acknowledge the possibility that all is unified in love as one, even the perceived evil. And, in this spiritual growth, you will catch glimpses into the real world, where only ever-expanding love prevails.” (p. 125) Keep in mind that this does not translate into doing away with familial and legal restrictions on immoral or criminal behavior; it concerns our state of consciousness and attitudes.
In the chapter “War”, Jesus says, “Evil, as you understand it, is a term for mankind’s desecration of free will in your physical and creative faculties of thought, feeling and action.” (p. 122) Thus, the word “evil” applies to thoughts, feelings and actions that are immoral and unloving. But we should realize that some of the things we regard as evil because they cause pain and suffering, in the long run may be beneficial in unforeseen ways. For example, sometimes it takes overwhelming pain and misfortune for a person to give up an unhealthy or destructive way of living. If a smoker gets lung cancer, it would be a mistake to think of the illness as evil. Diseases and other misfortunes are often karmic, caused by wrong actions in this or a previous life, and as such, they eventually teach us to avoid the actions that bring them about. We shouldn’t think of them as evil, for they help us to change for the better.
Likewise, we misapply the term “evil” when we regard calamities that strike large numbers of people, such as earthquakes and natural disasters, as evil. In responding to a question about evil in relation to earth changes, Jesus said, “Do you remember, I told you what you perceive as evil is often not what you perceive it to be?” (p. 123) “All of creation is in cycles, including mankind and Mother Earth. The cycles are constantly cleansing and rebuilding, just like breathing out and breathing in is cleansing for your physical body. It is not evil. It is natural and full of God’s love.” (pp. 122-123)
Sin and evil should be avoided if we wish to be happy, because they afflict the body and mind, retard our spiritual growth and awareness and cut us off from the peace, love, and joy of Spirit. Moreover, loving people are spiritually sensitive, and feel the pangs of guilt and remorse if they act in a way their conscience tells them is wrong. Finally, consider the following: Unless we are able to forgive ourselves for wrong actions, we will have to experience in this or a future life the consequences of these actions or something similar. However, if we forgive ourselves for our sins and firmly resolve not to repeat the same actions again, the karmic link of cause and effect will be broken. Like poisonous seeds that have been roasted, our past wrong actions will no longer be able to sprout and produce painful karmic consequences. By living in love, we are able to forgive and thus gradually become free of self-condemnation and guilt. Otherwise, we judge ourselves in this life and after death. In Messages, Jesus says, “If people truly forgave their selves and others, they would be so full of light it would feel as if the weight of the world was lifted from them. They would simply sin no more.” (p. 39)
– George Johnston