Every reader of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, knows that its author, Mary Baker Eddy, opens it with a radical statement: “The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God,—a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love” (p. 1). Absolute faith involves taking a stand for reality. We are talking about spiritual sense here.
Speaking of Christ Jesus in the textbook, Mrs. Eddy wrote, “Like our Master, we must depart from material sense into the spiritual sense of being” (p. 41). To me, this involves more than faith and hope. And she confirms this when she explains, “Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, involves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, reality” (p. 298). Though spiritual sense includes intuition, it involves much more than having faith and hoping things will get relatively better tomorrow. Absolute faith involves taking a stand for spiritual reality.
Understanding and fruition are also included in spiritual sense. All who pray have some understanding of God. Believers can testify to God’s lovingkindness and may even attribute a healing to hopeful prayer. This is a real faith healing. Students and practitioners of the Science of being, however, are not practicing faith healing.
