Testimonies of healing of the appetite for tobacco and alcohol are frequently given at Wednesday testimony meetings in Christian Science churches and in the Christian Science periodicals. Christian Science not only destroys false appetites; it protects one from acquiring them. It did just that for me. When I enlisted for Army service in the First World War, I was under eighteen. I resolved not to drink or smoke because I knew it was not in accord with Christian Science, which I understood a little and loved a lot. The help I got through my own study of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, a copy of which I carried in my haversack and read at every available opportunity, enabled me to keep my resolution in the face of both friendly and malicious attempts to make me break it. There was no sense of struggle on my part, nor any thought of self righteousness, but there was that peace which "passeth all understanding." My stand attracted respect too. Much to my surprise, a very "tough" old soldier who was a heavy smoker and a habitual drunkard confided to me that he admired my stand and wished that he himself could be free.
Christian Science does not demand the surrender of anything good or truly pleasing. On the contrary, it makes crystal-clear the fact that all good, including everything that is truly pleasing, is always present and available to man, the beloved son and heir of our Father-Mother God; and it shows one how to demonstrate this. It is right to be oneself, manifesting good will, generosity, joyousness, and qualities which constitute true individuality, but disgusting habits and poisons have nothing whatever to do with such God-derived qualities.
"And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31). God, being all-inclusive and infinitely good, is satisfied. Therefore man, His image and likeness, is satisfied. But God is not conscious of, hence not satisfied by, the mortal illusion regarding intoxicants and tobacco. And man, being His reflection, is likewise not satisfied by them.
