Through my study of Christian Science, I’ve learned that limitations, disease, and injuries are only as real as you admit them to be. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, likens the temptation by the corporeal senses to admit that you have come down with a disease or been injured to a trial. As with a criminal charged with a crime, the trial is much harder to win if you confess to being guilty. Instead, we are taught in Christian Science to affirm that man is created in God’s image and likeness (see Genesis 1:26), and that the first instance of either God or His likeness suffering with a limitation, disease, or injury has yet to occur, and indeed never will. As Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy states, “Man, being immortal, has a perfect indestructible life” (p. 209).
I learned the importance of this while on a ski trip with my wife. Skiing down a mountain ahead of her, I saw a youngster on a collision course with me. To avoid the impending collision I performed a drastic maneuver that sent me tumbling down the mountain, losing my skis, poles, hat, and goggles and ending up face down on the snow. I tried to stand up but had difficulty moving my left leg. Some skiers who had seen me fall collected my skis, poles, and other items and helped me up.
As soon as I put weight on my left leg, however, it collapsed and I fell. I began to pray. I reasoned that no one had ever fallen from God’s grace—i.e., from His protection. Further, I reasoned that everyone is eternally safe, well, and comfortable in God’s uplifting embrace.
