Article May 20, 1922 Issue

To go to church, "in order to get or remain well," or "to...

Marie Hartman—The Hague, Holland

De Nieuwe Courant

To go to church, "in order to get or remain well," or "to make one's business prosperous" is really not sufficient to attain the good fruits of healing and prosperity which Christian Science brings to its students. Christian Science healing is a result of communing with God, of letting God's spirit be in us, of holding our thoughts in unity with Truth, and that is not reached merely by "going to church" (although that may and must be a help), but by living in obedience to God. Christian Science cannot be practiced outwardly only. It teaches us how under all circumstances to obey the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me,"—to acknowledge no other power but God, good, and to seek God only. The success in business, of which your correspondent heard a testimony, is a natural result of keeping the First Commandment, of letting one's self be guided by the highest understanding of right and honesty, and Scientists are not at fault for the fact that Christianity lived in the daily life and in business brings better results than a lesser obedience to God.

I suppose that the cited words, "Do not come here to be healed but to help others and above all come here to serve God, not to get success in business," were meant to warn outsiders that Christian Science is not a drug which may be taken or not according to one's good pleasure, but a religion which demands complete surrender to God. In Christian Science there is no place for egotism; and should egotism find its entrance into a church, it would retard healing and success.

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