Q: When I hear of dedicated Christian Scientists passing on, especially those who have been prominent in the movement as teachers and practitioners, lecturers, frequent contributors to the pages of the periodicals, even officers of The Mother Church, it makes me wonder if they—such spiritually minded Christian Scientists—could not overcome a challenge they were facing, how can I even think I would be able to heal or be healed of some serious condition? Why were they not able to be healed?
A: It’s an honest question, and though I don’t pretend to have the full answer to it, I’d like to share some thoughts about it directly from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, starting with points she addressed in Unity of Good. (Note that the Church Manual, on page 43, advises us that “sometimes she may strengthen the faith by a written text as no one else can.”) “This generation seems too material for any strong demonstration over death, and hence cannot bring out the infinite reality of Life,—namely, that there is no death, but only Life. The present mortal sense of being is too finite for anchorage in infinite good, God, because mortals now believe in the possibility that Life can be evil.
“The achievement of this ultimatum of Science, complete triumph over death, requires time and immense spiritual growth.
