A particular modern-day "Literalist" interpretation of sainthood claims that no matter how Christ-like a person is, he or she is not a saint unless he or she accepts the Literalist dogma which presents itself as narrow, elitist and disuniting. However, when people who think like that drop the garment of flesh and pass into the World of Spirit, they hold firmly to the conviction that they are the only ones to whom God has revealed Himself, and unbeknown to themselves even then, they have built a containing wall around themselves and must remain on the plain, failing to realise that many good people have long since departed for the spiritual heights of the mountains.
A deep look into the past and the attitudes which prevailed at that time will help to fathom this subject. The Gentle Stranger taught a loving kindness alien to a people who knew only wickedness and cruelty inconceivable today. His truths became slightly tainted by the prevailing indoctrinated thought of his hearers.
The Christ had to address His teaching to people steeped in superstition, and who had a God who demanded animal sacrifices to atone for sins. It came naturally to His followers that Jesus was a "sacrifice" to somehow absolve them from the consequences of their wrongful actions. This was a natural, but unfortunately, misleading interpretation of Christ's life, death and resurrection.
Forgiveness of sin does not mean removal of the effects of sin attributable to the sinner - "saint" or not. The message of Christ is life everlasting, but also one of warning as well as hope; for what a man sows that he must assuredly reap. A person is not an instant saint; he rectifies the results of his own sins by expiation, not God.
A person does not instantly become "separated unto God" by following a man-made theory or dogma, nor do all others who do not follow such a theory remain not "separated unto God". Certainly, there may be a brush with the a supernatural power which leads many people to think, because their minds are so impressed by it, that they have achieved some type of instant transformation from a soul destined for an eternal damnation into a soul fit to reside in the awesome purity of the highest heaven. But being "separated unto God" means striving to always seek the things of God as demonstrated so clearly by the life of Christ, and leaving behind the attractive toys of the earth which do not last and the desire for earthly power and the adoration of the masses.
However, there is an important consideration to be made here, and it concerns a certain spiritual phenomenon where the soul is brought into a mutual loving communion with God (*See Passionate love for the Personality of Divine Love).
According to Dogma, an initial call to accept a metaphysical concept (human blood sacrifice), conversion and repentance makes a saint. However, no character, because of the necessity for unique experience, can ever achieve perfection in so short a time as the earth-life provides (although time on earth is essential), and the progressive goal of perfection continues long after the pilgrim has passed into the Better Land.
God cannot learn our lessons or gain experience of right or wrong for us, although He would if He could. The Great Parent wants to give His own children of His own gifts, but without the experience and wisdom to use those unimaginable gifts, He cannot do so. To think that such gifts shall be used with perfection and without error due solely to a life on Earth in a physical body, is short of outrageous.
A saint who sins occasionally is a contradiction in terms. Sainthood comes not overnight; it is easy to claim, but hard to attain.
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