Sometimes it may feel like a problem we’re facing is incurable—like it’s just not possible to be healed. Yet Christian Science teaches that there is no incurable disease or situation, because “all reality is in God and His creation, harmonious and eternal. That which He creates is good, and He makes all that is made” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 472).
Therefore, all that is imperfect has no source in God and is false, erroneous, and powerless. Moreover, imperfection, anything that God did not make, must yield to the corrective power of Truth, another name for God. Why is that? Because whatever is erroneous has no staying power; only God, good, has permanence and power. It’s scientifically true that whatever is erroneous is corrected by Truth.
There is no incurable disease because there is no incurable state or stage of consciousness.
Jesus certainly proved this in his healing practice. He consistently proved material law to be insubstantial, powerless to attach sickness and sin to the individual. He demonstrated that only the law of God has authority.
In the Revelation of St. John, the Christ is recorded as saying, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (3:20). Christ, the true idea of God, consistently knocks at the door of human consciousness. Hearing Christ speak to us nourishes our spiritual sense. We discern what is true, what is real, what is permanent.
Messages of good from God do not originate in matter or because of a need. They are always present within divine Mind, God, and Mind’s spiritual creation, man—the sons and daughters of God. This is why it’s possible to hear these messages and to be nourished by them: because man reflects all that God knows. He feeds us with right ideas that bring healing.
Christ is present here and now, and in spiritually scientific prayer we hear it telling us what is true and real. This brings tangible blessings to our experience as we yield to the power of God.
Yet, human consciousness often struggles against these spiritually scientific and provable truths. Why? Because human consciousness is a supposed mixture of good and evil. It is the field of tares and wheat that Christ Jesus spoke of, in which only the good is harvested for food.
The task at hand is to gather the tares in thought and eliminate them—to reject false, material beliefs—while letting the wheat, the good in consciousness, multiply and mature. Through Christian Science, we are able to winnow consciousness, to separate the real from the unreal, and experience healing. But how does that work?
Recently, while teaching a Sunday School class of little ones, I asked them if they knew the difference between good thoughts and bad thoughts. I could tell they were wanting to learn. So, we discussed examples of bad thoughts and good thoughts. They caught on quickly and still love the question “Good thought or bad thought?” In fact, recently I heard one pupil say to another, who was upset and acting out, “You need to think good thoughts. This is just animal magnetism!” (Animal magnetism is a term used in Christian Science to refer to the supposed opposite of God.) Now, if something starts going awry in class, I simply have to ask, “Good thought or bad thought?” and the children immediately come back into line. Is it any more difficult with an adult? It shouldn’t be. It needn’t be.
When we are facing a “bad thought,” or what Mrs. Eddy refers to as “aggressive mental suggestion” (see Manual of The Mother Church, p. 42), might we not, like those little ones, ask, “Good thought or bad thought?” and then immediately correct our thinking and actions? Too simple? Too naive? Too childlike? No. It’s just the right approach, even in dealing with an error that may have started as a suggestive snake but appears to have grown into a vicious dragon—a very aggressive but still erroneous suggestion.
Christ speaks to the childlike thought, regardless of age. It is present here and now. It whispers to us the holiness and perfection of God and man. Or it may roar like a lion to get our attention. However we hear it, we can hear it and follow it, because it cannot be ignored. No message from God to man can truly be lost, forgotten, or unheard. It not only comes with the demand but also imparts the ability and willingness needed for the demand to be fulfilled.
Opening thought to the laws of Truth and their application enables us to receive Truth. This receptivity reveals spiritual reality, the kingdom of God at hand, and thought is changed—moved from its basis in mortal mind or error to the true basis of Spirit. Accepting the glorious presence and love of God, even in the midst of storms of error, results in healing.
Resistance from mortal mind—the carnal or material mind—may seem to hide the light of Christ and leave us in the shadows of fear. It may claim to speak louder, be bigger, and be more powerful than God, or even be the only power, the only mind, the only reality. But it’s unreal, merely a false suggestion. Mrs. Eddy notes: “Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power. As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie, nothing claiming to be something,—for lust, dishonesty, selfishness, envy, hypocrisy, slander, hate, theft, adultery, murder, dementia, insanity, inanity, devil, hell, with all the etceteras that word includes” (Science and Health, p. 330).
Evil says nothing real about our God-given being. It merely lies.
We can remember, when we face situations that appear long and hard, that error is always eliminated by the all-presence of infinite Truth. Again, Science and Health states, “Truth, Life, and Love are a law of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because they declare nothing except God” (p. 243). Every least detail of error has no choice but to yield to infinite Truth, because no error, however dark, can withstand the light which Christ shines, revealing the ever-presence and power of Truth.
There is no incurable disease because there is no incurable state or stage of consciousness. We don’t need matter’s or mortal mind’s permission to be healed. We don’t need time, or personal worthiness, or hours and hours of reading and prayer. Our demonstration is purely spiritual and is determined by the law of Truth alone, which dissolves all false beliefs and brings healing.
Jesus consistently proved material law powerless to attach sickness and sin to the individual.
Years ago, after settling the estate of a family member who had passed away unexpectedly, I returned home overwhelmed by a very heavy cold. I had promised a close friend that I would fly to her city and drive her to a speaking engagement in another city. Feeling unable to do this, I called my friend and told her not to count on me. But by the end of the conversation I had recommitted to the engagement. While I was flying to her city, one of my ears became extremely painful, and I became resentful that my friend had pressured me into honoring my commitment, especially since I was feeling so ill and had just lost a loved one.
Weeks later, after the cold had passed, I noticed the ear was plugged, and for many years after that the ear was often plugged and my hearing out of it wasn’t always normal. Then one day, after being aware of this issue again, I humbly turned to God. Through prayer, I saw the level of resentment and anger I had been holding. I awakened to the scientific fact that neither resentment nor anger nor an ear condition could be part of my true being. I saw that the problem with my ear was merely a false belief, not a condition of the body, and it had no staying power in my consciousness. Scientifically affirming that error always yields to Truth, I felt free of the erroneous thoughts.
Later, when I was blowing my nose, the ear opened, and it has remained open ever since. Opening thought to the ever-present Christ, the spiritual idea of Truth, healed me.
Christian Science treatment draws on the healing power of Truth and proves the spiritual, scientific fact that error always yields to Truth.
