The Bible Speaks to You February 8, 1964 Issue

[The above is substantially the text of the program released for broadcast the week of January 31-February 6 in the radio series. "The Bible Speaks to You." heard internationally over more than 850 stations. This is one of the weekly programs prepared and produced by the Christian Science Committee on Publication, 107 Falmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.]

RADIO PROGRAM No. 96 - What Is Health?

[This is the first of a group of programs on Religion and Health]

INTERVIEWER: There is endless discussion of health these days, but much uncertainty about what health really is. But it is interesting to note that some thinkers are moving away from a strictly clinical view of health. There is this comment, for example, in the book, "The Humanization of Man," by the anthropologist Ashley Montagu. Dr. Montagu asks this question: "What is health?" And then he answers: "Health is the ability to love and the ability to work." (Published by The World Publishing Company, Cleveland, Ohio. Copyright, 1962, by Ashley Montagu.) How does this jibe with the view of health taught in Christian Science?

SPEAKER: I would say there is much more to health than just physical soundness or merely the absence of disease. In fact, Christian Science challenges the view that health is a condition of matter, that it is dependent on a balance of emotional, physical, biological, chemical elements and functions. To put it very briefly. Christian Science maintains that health is fundamentally a spiritual condition, not a physical one. It is a state of thought, a state of consciousness, which has its origin in divine Mind, the infinite creator. Health is the natural condition of man, made in God's likeness. And because this is true, health really belongs to every individual.

Christ Jesus spoke of this true consciousness, this state of spiritual well-being, when he said: "Behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). And in line with that, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says, "The true consciousness is the true health" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 298). Elsewhere she further explains, "A scientific state of health is a consciousness of health, holiness, immortality— a consciousness gained through Christ, Truth; while disease is a mental state or error that Truth destroys" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 349). As we see it, health is the consciousness, the awareness, of the very presence of God. Christian Science explains that health is not to he found through a study of material factors, such as the physical body, food, air, but rather that it is to be found in the understanding of God, divine Life, and of man's relationship to God.