Article June 17, 1911 Issue

The use of the word healing in connection with Christian Science...

Louise Satterthwaite

Philadelphia (Pa.) Telegraph

The use of the word healing in connection with Christian Science is sometimes objected to, the criticism being made that a somewhat overreligious shading is thereby given. But when one looks into the work done by Christian Science for those who appeal to it for help, fault can no longer be found with the use of the word healing in that connection.

In the dictionary we find that to "heal" means to "make whole or sound; to restore to wholesome conditions; remove something evil or noxious from; purify; cleanse; strengthen," and here we have a very good definition of that which Christian Science does to those who come to it for aid. Or perhaps it would be more correct to say that its teachings lead them to that knowledge of divine Love which does this work; for Christian Science is but a name given to that system of thought based upon the work done by Jesus of Galilee. It is a religion in the highest and best sense of the word; a religion losing none of those beautiful and good things embraced by all true religions, but elucidating them so that their meaning becomes understandable and of a most wholesome and lovely service.

The sick person who takes a drug may or may not get rid of his physical disability thereby; the diseased one who submits to the knife may or may not recover. The question is, if he does so recover, is he permanently benefited in body and mind by these expedients? To this question, unfortunately, the answer cannot always be given in the affirmative. We know that drugs do not always leave a wholesome effect; nor do we see those newly risen from the operating-table buoyantly happy. Sometimes physically they may be shorn of that which offended, but in many cases there is depression of spirits; and most certainly they have not been brought to any better understanding of God by the ordeal. Sometimes, indeed, these agonizing experiences breed rebellion against the idea of Deity; and we not infrequently find the chronic sufferer, or the one lately passed through extreme pain, bitter in his thought against the idea of a God who can permit or make possible such dire extremity.

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June 17, 1911
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