Your Questions and Answers
from The Christian Science Journal
I’ve had more than one individual enthusiastically relate to me that karma is a concept that Jesus espoused, and therefore it must be a law of God that operates in our universe. Such Bible quotes as, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7) and, “With the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38) have been used as evidence to support this. How would a Christian Scientist respond to this assertion?
As a former Hindu, one of the first things I noticed when I became a Christian is the similarity of certain key points in many religious philosophies. One is the idea that when you commit to and carry out a good intention, the result will also be good. This defines, in part, the concept of karma.
However, the notion of karma diverges from Christianity when it states that people are stuck living with past mistakes and are only released from the effects of those mistakes after a certain period of time or after going through a process of redemption and correction. Crimes, natural calamities, and disease, therefore, often lead people in this part of the world to believe that suffering is due to sins committed in the past or in a previous life.
I had similar beliefs about suffering until I came across Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Science and Health has helped me to view with greater spiritual understanding the nature of Christ Jesus’ healings. Jesus touches my heart with his response to his disciples’ question “Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” He tells them, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9:2, 3). He then healed the blind man. While others were busy questioning why the man was blind, Jesus saw the inherent perfection of this man, as he did with everyone, and the result was instantaneous healing.
Jesus showed us a way to gain freedom from sickness, sin, and death—all unreal masters, as he himself showed—contradicting the belief of bondage due to karma.
Sushil Likhi | Chandigarh, India
In the popular television program My Name is Earl, the main character, a lottery winner, spends each humorous episode trying to correct his past mistakes to improve his karma. My understanding of one important aspect of karma is that for every event that occurs, there will follow another event whose existence was caused by the first, and this second event will be pleasant or unpleasant according to the thoughts involved in the first.
If we think of life as a series of material events and human endeavors, this explanation would be very reasonable. However, through the study of Christian Science, I have been able to glimpse that Life is really God, Spirit. I have found that the increase of good in my life has come not necessarily from my actions or good deeds, but through an improved understanding of the unlimited nature of God, Love, as the only event.
As I’ve grown in my understanding that Love is the only event that has ever happened to me or to anyone, fear, doubt, depression, and misfortune have melted away. I’ve been able to find myself as spiritual, eternally pure, consistent, and the perfect effect of God’s great love. This awareness impels principled action, generosity, and kindness, and reveals God’s healing activity.
For me, the gospel teaching “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” is not a directive to go out and do more good deeds, per se. Striving to fix up the material world, even if in the form of doing good deeds, only brings more materialism. It doesn’t necessarily lift us out of the material dream. But rather, striving for a greater understanding of the divine Principle of Jesus’ teachings, and then sharing that understanding with others, illuminates the kingdom of heaven and brings tangible evidence of its existence into our lives.
Shelly Richardson | Eugene, Oregon, US
Christian Science explains that the law of the universe does not operate as a cycle of mortal mistakes or even human virtues, but as “the cycles of divine light” (see Science and Health, p. 135). This light is the reality that cause and effect are exclusively of God, who alone determines our lives. A cycle determined by human actions, on the other hand, would deny God’s supremacy. A cycle of cause and effect that knows evil would deny that God is all good.
Jesus’ life showed that the real law of cause and effect is Love—healing the sick and the sinner and restoring the dead to life. These healings showed that the universal law of Love is immediate, not requiring cycles of time or mortal experiences to bring out perfection.
Love’s law never leaves us in a revolving door of suffering or at the mercy of human circumstances. It operates to free us now. Through this universal law, every individual is unified with good.
“With the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” can be viewed in relation to the destruction of sin. It does not mean our present or past faults forever shape our destiny. We suffer for our sins only so long as we believe in them. Once they are corrected, we are no longer affected by them. Correction is not dependent on living out many cycles of mortal existence. Correction comes through the power of Christ, which reveals instantaneously our true nature as spiritual, the actual expression of God.
The concept of sowing and reaping can actually be seen as a way to understand healing. When we acknowledge that our real selfhood as God’s child is good, we reap the rewards of goodness right here and now. Jesus helped us understand that, sowing in thought the Christ model, we reap what is always present and universally true—the perfection of God and of man.