Creating human embryonic stem cells has been the Holy Grail of genetic research. Embryonic stem cells have the ability to develop into any sort of human cell. They've been coveted because of this; researchers think that such cells could figure in the cure of many diseases, since new cells could be created to replace diseased or destroyed ones. But the only way to get embryonic stem cells has been to destroy an embryo—an ethical roadblock for some.

Now, however, two research teams report that they have created embryonic stem cells from mature cells, destroying no embryo. They "reprogrammed" mature cells in a way that caused the cells to return to an embryonic-like state in a laboratory dish. The hope is that this eventually will allow any person's mature cells to be converted into fresh heart, nerve, or other tissue that the person's immune system won't reject.

Interesting stuff, and the researchers' successes are to be applauded. But it's just as interesting to look at a spiritual fact the results parallel: no matter what our past, no matter what our human history, we all can start new now by claiming our always mature spirituality—and nothing can stop us.

"Original sin" is a common theological concept. It claims that because of Adam and Eve's mistakes detailed in the Bible's book of Genesis, we're all hopeless sinners; we can't be as good as we may want to be, and we certainly can't be spiritual. According to this concept, there's no going back; we can't start over again. The best we can do is to try not to mess up too badly.

It's a common theological concept—but it's also a horribly mistaken one. The first chapter of Genesis makes it plain that man—male and female—was created spiritually well before any supposed Adam and Eve appeared on the scene. Furthermore, creation is complete and declared very good before they show up. This certainly suggests that Adam and Eve are shams, no part of God's real creation. And an inspired view of the rest of the Bible shows this to be the case. Especially telling are Christ Jesus' words and works—healing works that show man isn't the material mass we appear to be but actually is completely spiritual, expressing all the goodness of a God who is Spirit itself.

So our actual identity—right here, right now—is spiritual. We don't have to drop some genes into cells to reset our clock and find ourselves to be spiritual. We just have to claim our real origin—an origin that's spiritual rather than material. This requires a radical adjustment in the way we think. We have to give up our standard views of ourselves and our world and instead let the Christ tell us what's true, just as it told Jesus what was true, with spectacular results. We have to give up a mortal identity for an immortal one.

This isn't exactly easy, given our pervasive education in material viewpoints. But it's not exactly difficult either when approached the right way. This right way doesn't involve any human will or even human intellect. Rather, it involves humility and a love for God and man—a love that goes beyond emotion to a deep-seated desire to see things spiritually because the spiritual view is the true one. This view "resets" things. As Jesus proved—and as Christian Scientists are proving today—it heals the sick. More importantly, it gets us out of sinful ways of thinking—ways of thinking that produce all of humanity's problems.

We can claim our spiritual identity and its birthright now, no matter what our past. We're never "too mature," never too hardened. At any moment we can reject mortal viewpoints and adopt spiritual ones instead, getting us to our real origins and allowing us to start fresh, so to speak. As Jesus said, "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest" (John 4:35). And as Mary Baker Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 249),

Let the "male and female" of God's creating appear. Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy. Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine "powers that be." Such is the true Science of being. Any other theory of Life, or God, is delusive and mythological.