Two college students conducting a survey on business needs and office conditions knocked at the door of my downtown office. After completing the survey we talked for a few minutes, and the conversation soon touched on Christian Science. The two men were curious about this religion and its spiritual approach to healing. One remarked, "I know you don't use alcohol or tobacco, but do you still use sugar?"
Over the past few years I've observed that Christian Scientists are occasionally asked some rather unusual questions! Some of the questions are quite understandable ones. A few of the most common are: "Christian Scientists don't go to doctors?" "But what if you had a broken leg?" "How can anyone say that pain, sickness, and sin aren't real?" Could it be that what we are communicating about Christian Science in our day-to-day contacts and activities determines, to a large extent, the kind of questions our neighbors ask?
As I thought about this further, I realized that for the sincere Christian Scientist this teaching involves much more than a set of specific practices, more than church-as-usual on Sundays, and far more than not going to doctors or not using alcohol and tobacco. Christian Science is a deeply Christian way of life. It is a way of learning to live love more effectively and consistently. It demands approaching life with a spiritual perspective that brings the healing touch of the Christ to every avenue of our existence. And this is actually what the Christian Scientist wants to communicate to others. Perhaps, above anything else, he would hope to share with his neighbor something of what it means to know God's great love for His creation—what it means to live with the understanding that divine Love is always at one's side.
