Before we can accept Jesus Christ as our Savior we must
first acknowledge our need to be saved. When we do so, we are
saying that we have become aware of our enslaving sinful nature,
of the alienation that our sin has caused in our relationship
with God, of God's impending wrath on that sin, and of our total
inability to save ourselves. Try telling someone in the
Metaphysical movement (Religious Science, Unity, _A Course in
Miracles,_ etc.) about the wages of sin, though, and they will
look at you as though you are an anachronism -- a throwback to a
less-enlightened age. The ideas of an enslaving sinful nature,
of being alienated from God, and of God's wrath are, to them,
extremely offensive.
If there is one word that best characterizes the
Metaphysical movement, it is _optimism._ In a sense their
approach could be _nothing but_ optimistic, because the
Metaphysical belief system declares all that is negative (e.g.,
sin, disease, poverty, disharmony, and death) to be unreal. They
are unreal, says the Metaphysician, because such things are not
found in God, who is the First Cause and the Source of all that
is real. The source of all that is negative is therefore our
_own_ negative attitudes and false beliefs. We falsely believe
we are sinful and separated from God, when, in fact, we
eternally emanate from the impersonal Mind of God. The God of
the Metaphysical movement, who is the very Principle of Goodness
in all things, is not at all interested in judging us, but only
in providing for us all that is good. We can realize that
goodness when we recognize that we are one with God in our true
nature. One Religious Science minister wrote in a brochure,
"Once you realize your own true nature, you will find that
health, prosperity, love and peace are all fundamental parts of
you."
So, how does one share the gospel of Jesus Christ with
someone in the Metaphysical movement when their beliefs appear
to be so positive, and when the prerequisites for accepting the
Christian gospel appear to be so negative? I suggest you point
out how the Metaphysical way of salvation differs from the
Christian way. While the Metaphysical gospel begins with good
news, it ends with bad news....
Source File: crj0028a.txt
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