Before my wife and I learned of Christian Science, our young son contracted pneumonia. A doctor treated him. The child recovered, but the doctor feared that the disease would return on a regular basis. This experience made us feel helpless and afraid for our child's health in the years to come. I dreaded a repeat of the experience.
Some time after this, my wife and I began reading a copy of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. We had purchased the book at a Christian Science Reading Room in an airport while we were traveling. We also began visiting a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, in a nearby community on a regular basis. I remember how comforting we found the services. We loved the readings from the Bible, and the readings from Science and Health seemed so sensible and logical. We also went to some Wednesday evening testimony meetings to hear how other people had been healed by turning to God in prayer.
Then one evening our son came down with all the symptoms of pneumonia he had had earlier. I put the baby to bed, comforted him as best I could, and thought, "How does God heal a child?" A Bible passage I had heard at a recent Christian Science church service came to mind. It was about how "God created man in his own image" and how "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:27, 31). Such a God, I reasoned, certainly wouldn't allow an innocent baby to suffer.
