The central theme of all versions of the universal Truth curriculum, including the Course, is that “The Divine’s Children are guiltless, and in their Innocence is their awakening.” A key aspect of this theme is that the idea of flaw or “sin” in any form is merely a mistaken perspective that has become a belief but has no reality in truth.
“Sin is the fixed belief that perception cannot change, that what sin has damned has been damned, and damned forever, being forever unforgivable. If what sin has damned is forgiven, then the perception of sin must have been wrong. And thus is change made possible.
“The Holy Spirit, too, sees what It sees as being far beyond the chance of change. But on Its Vision the belief in sin – in unholiness, unworthiness, or irredeemable flaw – cannot encroach. For the belief in sin has been corrected by Its Sight. And thus it must have been merely an error, not a sin. For forgiveness, which damnation claimed could never be, is. Sin is attacked by punishment, and so preserved. But to forgive it is to change sin’s state from evil to simply error, which is all it could ever be in Truth.
“The Children of the Divine could never sin, but they can in error wish for what would hurt them. And they have the power to think that they can be hurt. What could this be except a misperception of themselves? Is this a mistake or a sin, forgivable or not, justifying help or condemnation? Is it your purpose that your sisters and brothers be awakened from their dreams, or damned for them, remembering that what they are to you will make this choice your future?”
“It is essential that error be not confused with ‘sin,’ because it is this distinction that makes awakening possible. For error can be corrected, and the wrong made right. But sin, were it possible, would by its nature be irreversible. . . . Sin calls for punishment, as error calls for correction. And the belief that punishment is correction is clearly insane.
“The idea of sin places a mistake beyond mere error. For sin entails an arrogance that the idea of error lacks. To sin would be to violate Reality in truth, and to succeed. Sin is the proclamation that attack is real and guilt is justified. It assumes that the Children of the Divine are guilty, and have thus succeeded in losing their Innocence, and making themselves what the Divine did not create. Thus is Creation believed not to be eternal, and the Will of the Divine open to opposition and defeat. Sin thus is the ‘grand illusion’ underlying all of the ego’s grandiosity. For by it the Divine Itself is believed to be changed, and rendered incomplete.
“The Children of the Divine can be mistaken. They can deceive themselves, and even turn the Power of their minds against themselves. But they cannot sin. There is nothing they can do that would change their Reality in any way, or make them guilty in Truth. That is what sin would attempt to do, for such is its purpose. Yet for all the wild insanity inherent in the entire idea of sin, it is impossible. For the wages of sin would be death, and how can the Immortal die?”
“Any attempt to reinterpret sin as error is entirely indefensible to the ego. The idea of sin is completely sacrosanct in its thought system, and quite unapproachable except through reverence and awe. It is the most ‘holy’ concept in the ego’s system: lovely and powerful, entirely true, and necessarily protected with every defense at its disposal. For here lies its ‘best’ defense, which all the others serve. Here is its armor, its protection, and the fundamental purpose of the special relationship in its interpretation.
“It can indeed be said that the ego constructed its world on the idea of sin or irredeemable flaw. Only in such a world could everything be upside down. This is the strange illusion that makes the clouds of guilt seem heavy and impenetrable. The solidness that this world’s foundation seems to have is found in the idea of sin. For in this world sin has apparently changed Creation from an Idea of the Divine to an ideal the ego wants, a world it rules, made up of bodies, mindless, and capable of complete corruption and decay.
“If this belief is merely a mistake, it can be undone easily by Truth. Any mistake can be corrected if Truth be left to evaluate it. But if a mistake is given the status of Truth, to what can it be brought for true evaluation? The ‘holiness’ of sin is kept in place by just this strange device. Mistaken as truth, sin is inviolate, and everything is brought to it for judgment. Evaluated truly as simply a mistake, sin must be brought to Truth for Correction. It is impossible to have faith in sin, for sin is faithlessness. But it is possible to have faith that a mistake can be corrected.
“There is no stone in all the ego’s embattled citadel more heavily defended than the idea that sin is real, the natural expression of what the Children of the Divine have made themselves to be, and therefore what they are. To the ego, this belief is no mistake. For this is the ego’s reality. This is the ‘truth’ for the ego about you from which escape will always be impossible. This is your past, present, and future in the ego’s eyes. For you have somehow managed to corrupt your Creator, and change Its Mind. Mourn then the death of the Divine, Whom sin has killed! And this death is the ego’s wish, which, in its madness, it thinks it has accomplished.
“Would you not rather that all this be nothing more than a mistake, entirely correctable, and so easily escaped from that its whole correction is like walking through a mist into the sun? For that is all it is. Perhaps you are tempted to agree with the ego, that it is far better to be sinful than mistaken. But think you carefully before you allow yourself to make this choice. Approach it not lightly, for it is the choice of hell or Heaven.”
“When you are tempted to believe that sin is real, remember this: If sin is real, then both the Divine and you are not. If Creation is Extension, the Creator must have extended Itself, and it is impossible that what is Part of It is totally unlike the rest. If sin is real, the Divine must be at war within Itself. It must be split, and torn between good and evil, partly sane and partially insane. For It must have created what wills to destroy It, and has the power to do so. Is it not easier to believe that you have been mistaken, than to believe in this?”