In China, before the infiltration of Western culture and habits, it was customary to engage doctors for a given period of time in an effort to secure protection from sickness and death. In "History of Chinese Medicine" by Wong and Wu, it is related that it was not uncommon for the wealthier Chinese families to hire six or even more medical practitioners on this periodic basis. The belief behind this practice was that the more doctors the family engaged the greater would be its protection.
But when we seek protection through material means, no matter how well our reasoning may seem to fit a certain situation, we are always subject to the inherent inability of mortal mind to protect us against itself. Only as we become more spiritually-minded and prayerfully seek God's direction in all that we think and do are we building a strong defense against the various ills and sins that beset mortals.
Christian Science reveals to us the only scientific basis for true protection, that is, the prayer of knowing and understanding more about God and man as His reflection. Just as the science of mathematics teaches us how to detect an error in calculation and replace it with the correct solution, so this Christ Science teaches us how to detect false, mistaken concepts of life and man and how to replace them with the correct concept of being.
