Spiritual Perspectives
What is Christian Science Treatment?

By Barbara Russell
Special to The Independent

One winter day in 1866, Mary Baker Eddy found herself healed instantaneously from life-threatening injuries she had sustained from a fall. Her healing came after the doctors had exhausted all medical means of help, and it looked like she would die. She asked for her Bible and read stories of Jesus' healings and was healed herself, right then and there. Raised in a devoutly religious household, and a student of the Bible all her life, this experience led her to delve even more deeply into the Bible to learn what had happened to her. And she began healing other people of all kinds of illnesses. A physician who was attending to a woman that Eddy healed, suggested that she write a book about her healing method so others could use it. Eddy recognized the value this would bring to the world and wrote Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, first published in 1875.

Since then many people have used Christian Science to heal all manner of sickness, disease, and other discord. The last 100 pages of Science and Health are testimonies by people who were healed by simply reading the book. The bottom line is that any illness or other problem can be healed because nothing is out of reach of God's healing love. The thing that Eddy discovered was a systematic way of bringing about healing through trusting His law of love that governs the universe.

Here is the short version of Christian Science treatment, simplified recently by Christian Science practitioner Ryder Stevens at a lecture in Farmington:

• Proclaim God's all-power
  
  
• Denounce evil as a lie "for he is a liar and the father of it." (John 8:44)
  
  
• Give thanks for God's goodness in your life, for His caring tender presence that heals completely and guides you on the upward way.

Is healing really this simple? Yes and no. We are healed as soon as we see that we are truly made in God's image and likeness (Genesis 1), but there are many voices arguing against this truth that we have to deal with. The three points that Stevens emphasized are not a formula. However, actively followed, they provide a basis for thought that will bring about needed change and will heal. Every individual will find that, in this process, he or she will need to address unique patterns of thought that keep him or her in bondage.

But Jesus' ministry proved the supremacy of good over evil. He helped people to see that we don't have to plead with God for His blessing, but that it is already here and available. He proclaimed God's all-power when he said, "I can of mine own self do nothing" (John 5:30). He put Satan behind Him and provided so many proofs of God's salvation, manifested right then and there in healing. And he thanked God for healing even before it was apparent to human sense, as when he raised Lazarus from death (John 11:41). He promised us that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17) and showed it to be so, through compassionately and persistently demonstrating physical healing; through the demonstration of God's provision in multiplying the loaves and fishes; and through his resurrection that proved the triumph of God's love over human hate and malice. The experiences of the Old Testament prophets, and of Jesus and his disciples, give us confidence that we, too, are completely able to demonstrate this love of God for others and ourselves.

As we begin to experience this in our lives, it grows and blossoms, blessing others and ourselves. Eddy writes, "In order to apprehend more, we must put into practice what we already know." And, "Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea." (pp. 323 and 324, Science and Health)

Healing through Christian Science is another way that God makes His voice heard in the chorus of angels that sings to our hearts breaking through the fears and passions of material sense, to be heard by our spiritual sense the sense that knows what is right and true, what we can trust, what will stand.

Barbara Russell is a Christian Science Practitioner and a member of the Christian Science Group of Gallup. She can be contacted at (505) 722-0357 or brgallup@yahoo.com.

This column is the result of a desire by community members, representing different faith communities, to share their ideas about bringing a spiritual perspective into our daily lives and community issues.

For information about contributing a guest column, contact Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola at the Independent: (505) 863-8611, ext. 218 or lizreligion01@yahoo.com.