Article April 13, 1946 Issue

Health versus Sense Testimony

JOSEPH C. DE WITT

Frequently the beginner in Christian Science is reluctant to make the declaration that he is healthy or harmonious, when the material evidence declares that he is sick or discordant. He may feel that it is untruthful to make this declaration when the material senses are clamoring or whispering persistently that he is sick or miserable.

Reluctance to deny the evidence of the senses would be commendable if physical sense testimony could be credited. The basic teaching of Christian Science, however, is that these senses always testify falsely. They do not know anything whatever about the truth, nor do they apprehend any of the facts about God or man. As Christ Jesus declared of evil or the devil (John 8:44), "He is a liar, and the father of it.' On page 258 of the Christian Science textbook. ' Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes, "The infinite Principle is reflected by the infinite idea and spiritual individuality, but the material so-called senses have no cognizance of either Principle or its idea."

If man were a material being, subject to the multitudinous ills claimed by the material senses, a denial of them would be not only dishonest but futile. Christian Science however, turns from the material evidence to the basic spiritual fact about man's being, that he is the expression or manifestation of God. Therefore man can experience only those conditions that are natural to God.

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