A WORKSHOP ON EVIDENCE of Christian Healing

The evidence of Christian healing—what does it mean for mankind?

This special issue of the Journal includes reports of Christian Science healing—as has every issue of the Journal since its founding more than a century ago.

What do these healings mean?

Longtime readers may almost take these reports for granted. Newer readers might wonder why these accounts of healing are such a staple of the Journal, and of the Christian Science Sentinel and The Herald of Christian Science. What does Christian healing show? Why is it significant in a century we're more apt to think of as "the age of biotechnology" than as "the age of renewed Christian healing"?

Perhaps most basically, Christian healing points to where man stands in relation to God, universal good. In the experience of healing, we understand more clearly our relationship to divine Love. Our conviction of the unity of God and man shifts from the realm of hope or faith to that of firsthand experience. And when spiritual healing becomes, not a once-in-a-lifetime spiritual high point, but a continual, consistent approach to health, relationships, career, community issues, and world challenges, a life is literally reborn, made new.

There was a man to whom healing was as natural and as much the normal course of the day as eating or sleeping. Day in and day out he healed. His was no psychosomatic healing ministry. A man blind from birth, a leper, a woman who had suffered from hemorrhaging for twelve years—each was healed.

So shining was his life that people worship him to this day. But worship or personal adulation wasn't what he sought. He taught the hereness and nowness of God's kingdom. And he trained healers. A number of those he taught went on to become extremely effective healers, according to the Biblical record.

Christ Jesus didn't view this form of healing as a short-term phenomenon. This was not to be a sort of spiritual shooting star that would fade and vanish after he was gone.

He expected it to grow after he was no longer here. He anticipated that his followers would heal as he did. He expected them to be capable of even "greater works" than his own. Healing—not ritual, not blind adulation, not rhetoric, but healing—was to be the central sign of discipleship.

Was this too much to expect? Was he naive, unrealistic, to suppose that ordinary men and women would be able to heal serious illnesses solely through prayer? Has Christian healing become outdated—an ancient, lovely, impractical notion—in an era of biomedicine, AIDS, massive hunger, designer drugs?

Or do his words only seem outmoded and irrational within a conventional materialist view of reality, a view that relegates God to a distant sphere of "faith" with little bearing on everyday life, health, commerce, art, education?

The testimonies of healing in the Journal, Sentinel, and Herald—week after week, month after month, year after year, generation after generation—provide at least a partial answer. They record thousands of examples of Christian healing having proved powerfully relevant—even in cases which seemed beyond the help of other contemporary approaches to curing the sick.

Jesus taught that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that God is as close as a father. Indeed, in his healing, he showed his followers for all time what this kingdom actually looks like. He showed that God's kingdom is not a distant or bygone paradise. It is the healing consciousness here and now of God's irrepressible goodness and love, overcoming evil, disease, and sin.

In this Workshop, we explore more of what the contemporary evidence of Christian healing is helping people to see about the nature of God's kingdom.

"I'm with you, Pop"—testimonies from the heart

It is a bit of family history that crosses generations, one that helps explain why some people feel so deeply about the reality of Christian healing.

"My parents came into Christian Science during the early twenties," a testifier wrote in the March 25, 1991, Sentinel, "after my father had been told by several doctors that he would never walk again." The father was healed with treatment through the prayer of a Christian Science practitioner, the family began attending the local Church of Christ, Scientist, and, as the testifier put it, "God became our family's only physician." Some years later, the testifier himself was faced with a dire verdict. Injured in an accident, he was taken to a hospital, where these injuries were confirmed but where, because of their severity, there was little done for him medically.

For many readers, the most moving aspect of the account may not have been the details of an impressive physical healing but the sense that came through of God's realness to this family—what it actually had meant to them to be able to turn to God through the "thick and thin" of life experience.

One passage in particular seemed to say a great deal. Describing the immediate aftermath of the accident, the testifier related: "My father, seeing what had happened, signaled the driver to move. I had been pressed, face down, several inches into the sandy soil. My father turned me over and started speaking to me of God and His loving care of man. Upon regaining consciousness and hearing my father's statements of God and His allness, I said, 'I'm with you, Pop.'"

There's something elemental in that "I'm with you, Pop"—in the response of both father and son at a time of ultimate need. For those who have relied consistently on prayer and Christian healing over a period of years, reaching out to God means reaching out to all that they have experienced and come to understand of God's "loving care of man."

This doesn't mean that Christian Scientists don't have doubts and fears like everyone else. But as a continuing flow of testimonies of healing has shown since the Journal's first issue in 1883, there's an immense base of experience behind the testifiers' conviction that God's care is real and practical rather than merely a comforting religious sentiment.

The woman who founded this magazine, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote in the Manual of The Mother Church: "Testimony in regard to the healing of the sick is highly important. More than a mere rehearsal of blessings, it ... illustrates the demonstration of Christ, 'who healeth all thy diseases' (Psalm 103:3)."

Mrs. Eddy went on to specify that testimonies should "not include a description of symptoms or of suffering, though the generic name of the disease may be indicated." This requirement guides the editing of testimonies submitted to the Journal, Sentinel, and Herald. Certainly, it doesn't preclude common-sense factuality in recounting the circumstances of a healing, but the primary purpose is always to "glorify God," as Mrs. Eddy quoted from St. Paul in the same By-Law.

These testimonies have been a lifeline to many readers over the years. It isn't uncommon to hear from readers who, when struggling with physical or other difficulties, have been lifted and spiritually fed by these firsthand accounts and set on the road toward healing. Their impact goes beyond providing simple encouragement because the healings themselves involve so much more than the effect of a positive human attitude. On the most basic level, the testimonies are a record of the impact that opening up to God's goodness has had in people's lives.

The views of human existence presented in the testimonies as a whole are hardly sheltered. Testifiers often speak frankly of their struggles and the "downs" as well as "ups" in their spiritual growth. The point is not that Christian healing is a magic answer but that serious commitment to understanding God and living Christ's teaching has brought significant healing across the spectrum of human experience.

Sources for further reading

For many decades, the healings reported by those who have turned to prayer in Christian Science have been challenging conventional views of what's possible—and, even more deeply, of what's real.

The following sources address some of the varied questions that have been raised about the evidence for such healing. Together they give some idea of how extensively these questions have been considered—and continue to be.

• "An Empirical Analysis of Medical Evidence in Christian Science Testimonies of Healing, 1969–1988." Reprinted in Freedom and Responsibility: Christian Science Healing for Children (Boston: The First Church of Christ, Scientist, 1989).

• James P. Wind, "Does Faith Make a Difference?" Second Opinion, March 1988, pp. 8–9.

• Robert Peel, Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1987).

• Thomas C. Johnsen, "Christian Scientists and the Medical Profession: A Historical Perspective," Medical Heritage, Vol. 2, No. 1, January/February 1986, pp. 70–78.

• A Century of Christian Science Healing (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1966).

The evidence for Christian healing and what it points to

Society tends to be either overly gullible (as a glance at the supermarket tabloids shows!) or intensely skeptical (often rejecting even the possibility of healing through prayer because it isn't endorsed by medical authorities). So it isn't hard to understand why many honest and intelligent people are reluctant to accept evidence of Christian healing at second hand. Their questions about the validity of this evidence deserve equally honest and thoughtful answers—from the head as well as the heart.

In recent years, this denomination has undertaken specific research on several evidence-related questions. (One product of this research is the study of Journal and Sentinel testimonies mentioned in the box on page 28.) This effort, which includes compiling medical documentation on specific cases, is guided by the spirit of Christ Jesus' response to the skepticism of his disciple Thomas after the resurrection, as recounted in John 20:24–29. If the Master himself did not dismiss questions about evidence from those who found it otherwise difficult to believe, then it is clearly incumbent upon his followers also to take these questions seriously.

In some ways, our society's attitude toward contemporary Christian healing may relate to the way it views New Testament healing. If we tend to regard the earliest Christian healing as merely anecdotal, or as a matter of crediting religion with what were probably just "natural phenomena"—coincidence, spontaneous remission, the body's ability to cope with 80 percent of disease even without treatment—we may be equally likely to dismiss twentieth-century Christian healing as improbable or anecdotal.

And underlying this dismissal may be the suspicion that God really has little to do with healing on a daily basis. That it really isn't feasible for "normal, ordinary people" to trust God's power in something as crucially significant to humanity as health.

For those who do credit the healing work of Jesus and his followers as something more than coincidence, the honest question arises: "Why do we sometimes suppose God's power to heal is less available to mankind today than two thousand years ago?" Is it really that God's omnipotence has diminished? Or is it rather that prevailing human attitudes are more apt to credit matter than divine Spirit as the underlying reality of the universe?

Given the messages of so much of current advertising, literature, news, business, education, it's really little wonder we may find ourselves thinking that health is tied to a complex array of known and yet-to-be-discovered drugs rather than to our wholeness as children of the God who is all-Love.

It's no wonder that our trust in God, even when we've experienced many healings, may sometimes seem less than wholehearted!

Yet trust in God doesn't come merely by intellectually marshaling evidence of Christian healing. Like the trust that develops naturally between husband and wife in a strong marriage, genuine trust in God deepens only as we come to know God, divine Love, more deeply. It isn't a matter of trying to will or persuade ourselves to have "more faith."

After all, healings aren't merely evidence that "physical changes can be effected through mental processes," or even that "miracles can happen through prayer." On the deepest level, these healings evidence the spirituality of man. They point not to a deity selectively intervening in human affairs but to a new understanding of man and life in God, and to God's all-inclusive love. This is what makes Christian healing so much more than just a minor alternative to conventional medicine—and so desperately needed in a world orphaned by materialism.

Views of evidence—before and after healing

Comments from a businessman

I think healing through prayer tends to change pretty radically the way we think about evidence.

When Jesus said, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment," I don't think he was asking some impractical or unrealistic thing. He obviously saw things very differently from those around him. But that doesn't mean he was unrealistic. Much of his ministry was an effort to help those around him to see what he saw. He described what he saw as God's kingdom at hand. He taught others to see and to live in, to an unprecedented degree, this kingdom. Those who did were healers. In many instances the evidence of man's sinfulness and debility literally changed before their eyes. Sinners were reborn, the sick were made whole. You can't get much more practical—or realistic—than that.

A healing in our family several years ago has meant different things to different family members, but one thing it did for me was to shift my view of evidence—the so-called evidence that man is essentially material, prone to disease despite his best efforts. I learned that it really is possible to give much more credit, more credence, to the evidence that man is essentially spiritual, cared for, healed, guided by an all-loving Father, or divine Principle.

A family member developed a disfiguring growth. Since prayer in Christian Science was the chosen method of treatment, each family member, in his or her own way, prayed fervently to support the healing.

I was involved in a new business venture at the time, and my schedule was erratic, but I found two or three hours each day to study the Bible and all of the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. I made an effort to learn and put into practice the rules of divine healing as demonstrated by Christ Jesus and explained in the Christian Science textbook.

It was very difficult at first to "judge not according to the appearance," when it seemed as though the "obvious" evidence of disfigurement was staring me in the face—even though I'd experienced and witnessed a number of healings through prayer in the past. It was as though the problem were saying, "Get real. What could prayer possibly have to do with what you're looking at?"

I recall one occasion when I called the Christian Science practitioner who was praying for the family member. She explained that, through scientifically Christian prayer, the material evidence—whatever says that man is separated from God or good—would lose reality in consciousness. I wondered at the time how this could be. How could something so obvious and demanding of attention lose its "reality" to our family? It seemed so improbable.

Nevertheless, that is exactly what happened as we continued to pray and study systematically to learn more of how Christ Jesus healed.

Over the weeks and months of prayer and study, the difficulty first began to lose its power to frighten us or to drain the happiness from our home, even before the physical evidence had changed. We began to feel real joy in the tangibility of God's love for His creation, man. Not long after this, the condition began to improve until it was completely healed, leaving only smooth skin and no mark.

The experience of witnessing this healing is linked in my thought with another experience I had about a year later. I received notice that the records of a company in which I was a principal owner had been subpoenaed by a grand jury. I learned that a former employee had made allegations of fraud. It soon became apparent that the investigation centered on me.

I flew to the branch of the company that seemed under closest scrutiny. I felt under great stress. The nature of the industry involved is such that the public's perception of a company can so profoundly affect revenues that great harm can be done even if the allegations prove false. The investigation was quickly becoming common knowledge.

After two sleepless nights in a motel far from home, I decided to go for a jog at dawn along a country road. About fifteen minutes later I collapsed and lost consciousness.

When I came to, lying on the side of the road, I prayed. I knew that I was innocent of the charges being made. I knew that innocence and honesty are a reflection of God, divine Truth, and therefore aren't weak or vulnerable. I didn't need to fear charges made on the basis of false evidence. And it occurred to me that, however horrific the "evidence" seemed to be that I was entangled in a no-win situation, it would, through prayer that acknowledges the allness of God, lose reality in consciousness and in my experience—just as in the physical healing I mentioned earlier.

I got up, and from then on, I prayed from this standpoint.

I gathered together the massive amount of documentation subpoenaed and shipped it to the authorities involved. As the weeks went by, and then months, instead of continually checking out how the investigation was going, I found I was actually able to put it largely out of thought and devote my thought and energies to running the company. The initial negative publicity, instead of being sustained while the investigation was underway, quickly dissipated. Actual damage to the company was kept to a barest minimum.

Some months later, unrequested, the documents were returned, and we were informed by letter that the investigation had been completely dropped. I couldn't help noticing that the seals I had put on the many shipping cartons had never been broken. The documents had apparently never been looked at from the time they left my possession. And yet, somehow, the authorities had chosen not to pursue the matter further.

It was interesting to me that, instead of feeling bludgeoned by the whole ordeal, I felt stronger, less vulnerable to chance, false accusation. And I saw something of the fact that it is practical and possible to find in our lives more and more evidence that man is spiritual, governed not by material circumstances and what the material senses may be telling us but by God, who is eternal Love.

(Many inquirers write to our Church's headquarters with questions—sometimes adamant questions!—about the evidence of Christian Science healing. The following is part of a letter written in reply to one such inquiry.)

Dear Mr.— ... I can understand your frustration over what you assume must be ignorant religious claims about healing. Frankly, I would feel intensely skeptical myself if I had no firsthand knowledge of healings in Christian Scientists' lives. As a Christian Scientist, I can't purport to be a neutral observer, but I hope you'll keep at least an open mind regarding this subject in considering the evidence.

And there is evidence. At the very least, it must be acknowledged that a great many healings in Christian Science have involved diagnosed conditions not considered medically self-limiting, psychosomatic, or curable with placebos. The correct explanation for these healings is a question that has been discussed and debated since before the turn of the century. But the fact of healing in tens of thousands of cases can't be explained away easily as is often assumed. ...

Several sources make a start at least in surveying these cases. The database study "An Empirical Analysis of Medical Evidence in Christian Science Testimonies of Healing, 1969–1988" is preliminary but suggests the scale of healing that has gone on in Christian Scientists' lives. This study acknowledges the care necessary in dealing even with fully documented case histories, not to mention anecdotal accounts. But it also makes clear that these healings need to be looked at seriously, not ignored simply because they do not fit current conventional biomedical assumptions.

Robert Peel's book Spiritual Healing in a Scientific Age (Harper & Row, 1987) considers this body of healing in a contemporary scientific framework. The book reprints affidavits and other material on forty or fifty individual cases of healing that involved specific, medically diagnosed conditions. Some were cases considered terminal or irreversible by attending physicians in which the healings involved measurable physiological changes directly correlated with intervention through prayer.

If there were only a few cases in which this had happened, one might be justified in chalking it up to coincidence or random remission. But it isn't honest, much less scientific, to do so when biologically improbable or inexplicable healings have happened again and again in similar circumstances.

Something has brought about healing in these cases. Irrespective of religious background, those who care about human well-being need to find out more about what is making a substantial number of sick or injured people well and whole—rather than deny that these healings are happening! Even in secular terms, the evidence is overwhelming that health involves more than biochemistry, and health care more than physically repairing an organic "machine"....