Q: What can I do if I feel I’ve chosen the wrong teacher while in class instruction, or in the years that follow?
A: I believe that Mary Baker Eddy in her wisdom and love provided the answer to this question for any student who feels disappointed in his or her experience of Primary class teaching. She writes in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany: “God is above your teacher, your healer, or any earthly friend. Follow the directions of God as simplified in Christian Science, and though it be through deserts He will direct you into the paths of peace” (pp. 360–361). This is loving counsel that is in complete accord with this message from the Gospel of John: “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God” (6:45).
The understanding of the impersonal nature of both the teacher and the teaching is a necessary step if the student is to advance spiritually. In my own experience, I found the time after class instruction challenging as my teacher passed away within months of the close of our class. This forced me to turn to God and to understand that He was truly my teacher—just as He was my teacher’s teacher. As I look back now, I know it was the catalyst that sent me forward spiritually and provided me with the wonderful sense of God’s companioning me in the work of healing.
Instruction also came from the other great teachers who were there to help me: the Bible, and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy, as well as her other writings. These books are always available to answer any question, and within their guidance the student is safe and secure.
It is clear in the Manual of The Mother Church that Eddy realized the need to protect the students against personal sense or opinion. She wrote that the teacher “shall enjoin them habitually to study the Scriptures and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures as a help thereto” (p. 83). The underlying message here is for Christian Science teachers to trust their students to God as the ever-present guide for instruction on their path of discovering spiritual reality.
However, as class instruction is perhaps the most spiritual step taken in this sphere of experience, there needs to be an awareness that the carnal mind will attempt to destroy its healing purpose by separating the student from the teacher. That Eddy was aware of the need to be alert to protect the student after class is shown by her statement given at the close of her March Primary class in 1889. She writes: “… I met the class to answer some questions before their dismissal, and allude briefly to a topic of great import to the student of Christian Science,—the rocks and sirens in their course, on and by which so many wrecks are made. The doors of animal magnetism open wide for the entrance of error, sometimes just at the moment when you are ready to enter on the fruition of your labors, and with laudable ambition are about to chant hymns of victory for triumphs” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, pp. 280–281).
The suggestion that a mistake has been made in the choice of one’s teacher needs to be seen for what it is and used as an opportunity to acknowledge that the step of class instruction was made with God’s unerring guidance, on the part of both teacher and student. As they go forward together, to be taught of God, they form the strength of the combined association of students. There is no hierarchy in this union. It is founded on the teachings of Christ Jesus, who set the standard of sending out his disciples two by two. Both teacher and student need each other in the work of bringing healing to humanity.
