There is no doubt that Christian Science is the most powerful and far-reaching healing agent the world can know. Healings of diabetes, cancer, and other illnesses deemed incurable by medical science prove that.
But there is also no doubt to me that the surest way to fail in healing is to pray to try to heal something. The goal in Christian Science is not just to have a healthier life, but to understand what life actually is. These are two very different things.
In the Bible, John tells the story of how Jesus feeds thousands of men, women, and children with only five loaves of bread and two fishes (see John 6:5–13). It’s what happens after that, however, which is more interesting in many ways. Hordes of people follow Jesus. Even though he leaves the next morning before dawn, the people of that town are so determined to find him that they get in boats and eventually track him down. Jesus perceives instantly what is going on: These people want more bread. You might say they want him to be their welfare program. In response, Jesus tries, in every way he knows how, to tell them to forget about the material bread and listen to what he is saying. The principles that animate his own life are what matter, he says. They bring eternal life, not just a few healthier days.
