Christ Jesus accepted his challenges as opportunities. Leprosy, blindness, a withered hand, and even death challenged his sense of Life, but he healed the lepers, opened the blind eyes, restored the hand, and raised the dead. When his sense of Love was challenged, he did not waver from what he knew Love is or from his own sense of himself as the image of Love, and he overcame the effects of the hatred of his enemies while he loved them.
The challenges for those who follow the Science Jesus taught are not unlike those that faced the Master. And today they threaten the extinction of Christian Science as surely as then they threatened the destruction of the Christ. Jesus faced his opposition alone. Christian Scientists today face their opposition in cooperation with all members of The Mother Church and with some sympathetic support from those outside the church who either agree in part or who stand for the right of individual choice. But the opposition seems to be more unified, more advanced, and far more complex than it was in the early Christian days. The opportunities to prove that God is the only true physician and the opportunities to overcome hatred with love are with us, and they are increasing.
Medical science, so called, has produced vaccines for the prevention of many diseases that were once greatly feared. A preventive for cancer is hoped for in the not too distant future. Treatment by chemicals and antibiotics is advancing. New forms of treatment are developing out of atomic research. And medical treatment is being used with increasing effect for mental disorders. The challenge to Christian Scientists is obvious. Our understanding of the healing truth must at least match the progress being shown by those of the medical profession.
