A professor of philosophy in an American college recently stated in one of his classes that Christian Scientists say there is no disease; that they put it out of the door, but that it comes in through the window. Christian Scientists, however, know that their method of treatment of the sick involves much more than such a statement would imply. They understand the baselessness of disease and of all other forms of evil, because they can demonstrate in some degree the fact that God is the only cause and creator, and that He has created only good, as we read in the first chapter of Genesis.
Mrs. Eddy says in our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 460): "Sickness is more than fancy; it is solid conviction. It is therefore to be dealt with through right apprehension of the truth of being." "Conviction" is defined as a "state of being convinced: strong persuasion or belief." Hence, to heal a conviction of disease or discord, the truth must be perceived and realized. In the paragraph just quoted from, Mrs. Eddy also writes: "If Christian healing is abused by mere smatterers in Science, it becomes a tedious mischiefmaker." So, in treating the sick, a Christian Scientist goes deeper. Students of this Science know that their Leader gives them no precedent either for slipshod methods in its practice or for looseness in stating it. A mere assertion is far from being Christianly scientific.
The question may arise as to how Christian Scientists close the door on mortality and get rid of error, sickness, and sin. The Christian Science textbook gives the keynote to the answer on page 447, where Mrs. Eddy writes, "The sick are not healed merely by declaring there is no sickness, but by knowing that there is none." Christian Scientists earnestly strive for the spiritual understanding of the truth of being; for this enables them to know that there is no sickness. They understand that God, good, is the source of all truth, and that He never made error. It is Truth, or the reality of being, understood, which heals in Christian Science; a mere personal statement without understanding can do nothing. Students of this Science take the Bible as their guide; and through the study of it, together with Science and Health and Mrs. Eddy's other writings, they are able to gain a correct understanding of God and man, and to put this truth into practice.
