“Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal, because sin is not there and man is found having no righteousness of his own, but in possession of ‘the mind of the Lord,’ as the Scripture says.” from Science and Health, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 291 : 13-18
Recently in my daily reading I found where Mrs. Eddy writes in, Christian Science versus Pantheism page 13, “EXHORTATION Beloved brethren, the love of our loving Lord was never more manifest than in its stern condemnation of all error, wherever found. I counsel thee, rebuke and exhort one another. Love all Christian churches for the gospel’s sake; and be exceedingly glad that the churches are united in purpose, if not in method, to close the war between flesh and Spirit, and to fight the good fight till God’s will be witnessed and done on earth as in heaven.”
‘Exhort: To advise; to warn; to caution.” Websters’ 1828 Dictionary
The above citation in our lesson this week stood out to me, “because sin is not there.” I realized this is why Jesus was stern toward error. There is no place in the kingdom in heaven for any error. I am learning that error does not go away with a weak or timid voice or attitude. Many people want to focus on the love and healing of Christ Jesus, but the longer I am at Plainfield the more I see that he only was able to do this because he was a terror to error.
“Stern: Austere; severity and authority; a stern countenance; severe of manner; rigid; harsh; cruel, hard; afflictive.” Websters’ 1928 Dictionary
In Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy, one of our tenets on page 497 we are instructed, “And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus;”
It is clear there is no way around this nor are we to leave it to someone else but it is our work on this path to also be stern toward error!