The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes, "The Massachusetts Metaphysical College and Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, were the outgrowth of the author's religious experience." No and Yes, p. 12 Both the college, through the Board of Education, and the Church continue to serve humanity over a hundred years after that statement was written. Along with Mrs. Eddy's book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which throws light on the spiritual meaning of the Bible, these are among her practical achievements that contribute so vitally to human progress, healing, and salvation.
Such benefits from individual religious experience follow what might be called a new-old precedent. There is evidence throughout the Scriptures that gaining fresh spiritual vision of God's nature results in practical outcomes in human lives. Moses at the burning bush realized something new of God's nature as the eternal "I AM." This understanding of the Supreme Being as the sole source and cause of all things was truly substantial to Moses at that moment. Yet it didn't stop there. It impelled him to travel back to Egypt, where the children of Israel were being held in bondage, and to lead them to freedom through God's guidance and protection.
Christ Jesus, of course, showed humanity the most compelling illustration of the practical outgrowth of genuine religious experience: a life lived in unity with God. His example gives us a standard against which we can measure our own prayerful efforts. Do tangible events that occur in our lives attest to a real gain in spiritual understanding? Does a more consecrated life, blessing others, show forth the gain of genuine insight into the nature of God and man?
