Testimony of Healing February 23, 1929 Issue

It is not our desire to enter into a religious discussion,...

Mrs. Annie I. Rembert, Committee on Publication for the State of South Carolina,

Greenville News

It is not our desire to enter into a religious discussion, but we would thank you for space in your paper in order to correct an erroneous impression of Christian Science. In a letter to you, one of your correspondents writes of faithhealing. In order to answer what he has to say on the subject, particularly as regards Christian Science, I shall for the sake of brevity group my remarks under three headings: (1) Is the prayer of faith ("the effectual fervent prayer" of the righteous) necessary to the vitality of the Christian religion? Unquestionably so. Jesus' command, "Heal the sick," was intended for all who should follow him. He required "sings following," the healing of the sick and sinful. His directions are explicit, and Christianity cannot repudiate his platform. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, makes this statement on the first page of her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God,—a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love. ... Prayer, watching, and working, combined with self-immolation, are God's gracious means for accomplishing whatever has been successfully done for the Christianization and health of mankind." (2) Did Jesus' prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, "Not my will, but thine, be done," indicate that God, who is Life, should force upon His beloved Son the oblivion of death? Or did it rather mean that God's will for him was a complete overcoming of every erroneous condition, even death itself? Referring again to the textbook, we read on page 51: "Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies. He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his spiritual identity in the likeness of the divine; but he allowed men to attempt the destruction of the mortal body in order that he might furnish the proof of immortal life." Overcoming a momentary human shrinking from the ordeal, Jesus willingly, courageously, went through the harrowing experience of the crucifixion in order that he might fulfills his destiny, his opportunity to glorify God's omnipotence. God does not send sickness or death to His children. He requires that we overcome material beliefs with spiritual facts. (3) Because sin, disease, and death still continue, does this prove that Christian Science does not heal? Christian Science is proving daily, hourly, that the Christ, Truth, is at hand to heal and save. The simplest rule of Christian Science applied to our human need, and proved to be effective, is a guaranty that higher demonstrations can be made by those who faithfully and prayerfully abide by the Principle set forth in the Christian Science textbook. Well-authenticated cases of the healing of every known disease are on record, and may be obtained by those who earnestly desire proof of the efficacy of prayer.

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