An article entitled "Those healthy-minded Christian Scientists" appeared in a provincial Canadian newspaper, The Whig-Standard. The Whig-Standard, Kingston, Ontario, March 9, 1990 . It was written by a clergyman, and it read in part: "Today, when materialism is gaining in popularity, Christian Science is an apt antidote for those who claim that the world is nothing more than it appears to be. This faith reminds us that there is more beyond, and that reality is much more than a weights-and-measures approach can detect. I don't want to be without the insight expressed by Mrs. Eddy when she chose to believe in a God who denies death, evil, sin and disease, rather than believing in death, evil, sin and disease that together deny God."
How did Mary Baker Eddy come to understand that in the presence of God, omnipotent good, evil and disease have no existence? From early childhood, she had been a devoted Christian. Yet, in her adult years, her faith was sorely tested by ill health and the loss of close family members, whom she loved greatly.
In her book Retrospection and Introspection, Mrs. Eddy describes the steps that led to her discovery of Christian Science: "During twenty years prior to my discovery I had been trying to trace all physical effects to a mental cause; and in the latter part of 1866 I gained the scientific certainty that all causation was Mind, and every effect a mental phenomenon." Ret., p. 24.
