Article March 7, 1936 Issue

May I assure your readers that there is no foundation...

Francis Lyster Jandron, former Committee on Publication for the State of Michigan,—Grand Rapids

Herald

May I assure your readers that there is no foundation for the statement attributed to a clergyman in a recent issue of the Herald that "Christian Scientists declare religion to be merely a system of bodily healing." Like other Christians generally, Christian Scientists hold that religion is the worship of God, infinite Spirit.

All will agree that a closer acquaintance with God must express itself in human thoughts and conduct which are more Godlike. Christian Science teaches and proves that the healing of bodily ailments is as natural an outcome of Godlike thoughts as the healing of sin. This teaching follows the precepts and practice of Christ Jesus, who evidently looked upon healing of bodily ailments through spiritual means as a convincing proof of his divine authority, and made it clear that the ability to heal belongs to all who understand what he taught. When John the Baptist sent messengers to inquire concerning Jesus' Messiahship, the Master said to them: "Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them."

The ability to heal the body through spiritual means, as Jesus and his disciples did, can be gained only as human thought is lifted above its fears, ignorance, and sin; in other words, only as the Christ-model is enthroned in consciousness. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, wrote in her book "Rudimental Divine Science" (pp. 2, 3): "Healing physical sickness is the smallest part of Christian Science. It is only the bugle-call to thought and action, in the higher range of infinite goodness. The emphatic purpose of Christian Science is the healing of sin; and this task, sometimes, may be harder than the cure of disease; because, while mortals love to sin, they do not love to be sick."

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