First questions about Christian Science often have to do with whether Christian Scientists are the people who believe in spiritual healing. Sometimes follow-up queries relate to what one would do in hypothetical situations.
I was invited to a college class that had many questions about Christian Science. Finally, near the end of the class period, one fellow asked this: "Suppose that you were driving on a deserted highway late at night." Then, setting up the scene, he went on, "Suddenly you see an animal in the road, you veer to miss it,
lose control of your car, and crash. You're injured seriously and bleeding."
Next came the question, "What would you do?"
In a way, he'd already provided an answer in the question. I asked what he would do if he were in such a condition on a deserted highway.
He thought a moment and then replied, "I guess I'd pray." His answer suggested something of the ultimate concern that lies behind the issue of Christian healing—the nature of man's immediate relationship to God.
While there are sometimes brief answers to large questions, we all know that there are concerns we all have when we have to look deeply within ourselves in order to make decisions. And the context in which we view life shapes what we do and the values we live by.
Take human technology, for example. It is often a wondrous thing and is a big part of our modern life. I still marvel when I'm sitting in an airplane at an altitude of 35,000 feet. I know about lift, the thrust of jet engines, and the combustion of fuels, but air travel is still something of a wonder and a pleasure. Until, that is, I learn of a crash and the question arises whether the technology and convenience are worth that cost. But what about the viewpoint of a dedicated aeronautical design engineer? He or she would seek and find solutions to avert such tragedies; he certainly wouldn't cancel airplane travel.
Reasonable people will always reexamine the decisions that preceded any sad event. Not unrelated, questions are raised about relying upon prayer and Christian healing, especially in the light of complex medical technology that is designed to treat human illness. But then we learn of medical contradictions, opposing opinions, flawed test results and studies, and tragedy that sometimes follows sincere medical treatment.
There are few easy answers for anyone faced with the necessity of making decisions about how to care for people. We do come to trust, however, the things that we know best and have found reliable. For a person who has been moved deeply by New Testament Christianity—with its reality of divine Love—to be pressured to relinquish this experience is to feel that something is being undermined that gives meaning to human life.
In the United States legitimate concerns about child abuse have been mixed together with the question of relying upon Christian prayer for healing in families—healing that is not a matter of dogmatic faith but of practical experience for many years. Admittedly,
this is a challenging issue, though one that legislators have dealt with wisely for the most part. They have recognized that responsible care is normal within Christian Science families.
And, Christian Scientists would be among the first to agree they need to do a better job of living their way of life as well as of explaining it to others. It is factually true, however, that their faith is based on a Biblical understanding of God, and it is disciplined by common sense, reason, and a definite recognition of social responsibility.
If one were to visit a local Christian Science congregation, in many ways it would be like neighboring congregations of other worshipers. What has brought Christian Scientists together is no charismatic leader, no claim of instant miracles, no suggestion that not to accept the teachings of Christian Science would result in divine punishment or disaster.
What unites them is a shared experience that through the study of the Bible—especially the teachings of Christ Jesus—and the book entitled Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, they have discovered a rebirth of Christianity in their lives. It is a Christianity that includes spiritual healing in the wide sense of reconciling humanity to God's goodness. And it is healing in the specific sense of correcting and overcoming human ills through the law and grace of God, which impel reform.
There was Christian realism in the outlook of Mrs. Eddy, the woman who founded the Church of Christ, Scientist. She knew that skepticism would be profound in regard to Christian healing. She realized that for centuries even the Christian community had come to rationalize the lack of such healing through the general belief that Christian healing was a unique dispensation, limited to an apostolic era long gone. She undoubtedly knew that in an increasingly technological age, the nature of man would be viewed either as a materially organic study or as a matter for demonstrated spiritual understanding and the evidence of Christian regeneration and healing.
What has brought Christian
Scientists together is no
charismatic leader, no claim
of instant miracles, no
suggestion that not to accept
the teachings of Christian
Science would result In divine
punishment or disaster.
What unites them is a shared
experience that they have
discovered a rebirth of
Christianity in their lives.
She said to Christian Scientists that they would, in such a context, have to prove their faith through their works. "The burden of proof that Christian Science is Science rests," she said, "on Christian Scientists. The letter without the spirit is dead: it is the Spirit that heals the sick and the sinner—that makes the heart tender, faithful, true. Most men and women talk well, and some practise what they say."1
The "some" will have to become many more, not simply to preserve a heritage of spiritual healing, but more effectively to bring to humanity the perception of Christianity that man is not the flawed, dying, feeble being he so often seems to be. Rather, man is truly the child of God, Spirit, with the gift of eternal life. This was the vision of New Testament Christianity. It is this insight into the nature of man as God's reflection, or spiritual expression, that is the real power behind Christianity's healing works.
The world battles over this question of the nature of man far more than over whether a small sect of Christianity should be allowed to carry on its healing practices. Christian Scientists are coming to see the issue in these universal terms. Perhaps the differences between Christian Scientists who rely on spiritual healing and many of their neighbors who don't understand how this is practical, aren't as insurmountable as some may think. Christian Science healing shows that the metaphysical question of man's spiritual nature relates immediately to people's physical well-being. Likewise, healing of misunderstanding and religious intolerance can certainly extend to people's sincere concern about the practicality and reasonableness of spiritual healing. Current public controversy offers opportunities for Christian Scientists and the larger society of which they are a part to find honest and fair-minded answers.
We all have a stake in understanding and demonstrating the power of Christianity to heal disease and to overcome the evils that are taking such a devastating toll on all humanity. This is why healing is so important to Christian Scientists and why the scientific practice of Christian healing simply can't be shoved aside.
