Christian Science Healing as a Profession

Some students of Christian Science follow professions that take them into worlds such as commerce, law, physical science, engineering, space exploration, journalism; and they utilize their understanding of God with healing effects wherever they may be. Some feel themselves divinely directed to devote their lives exclusively to the work of metaphysical healing. They are known as Christian Science practitioners.

These men and women are by no means casually independent do-gooders. Before their names and addresses may be inscribed in the worldwide directory of practitioners in The Christian Science Journal, they are carefully screened to determine their spiritual worthiness and ability to heal. They are required to be available on a full-time basis to serve the public through the healing prayer that constitutes Christian Science treatment, and they must conform strictly to a code of spiritual ethics which protects both their patients and themselves from malpractice.

The public practice of Christian Science is scrupulously regulated under the By-Laws of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts. One who enters this healing ministry on a recognized, professional basis is required to approach it with as much dedication as would be needed to embark on any other profession demanding special skill.

He is required to abandon every other business occupation and to work wholly in the service of God and humanity. He may undertake duties connected with the church organization and be paid for them, but if he does, he is still required to fulfill his obligations as a practitioner. Part of a By-Law included in the Manual of The Mother Church by Mary Baker Eddy reads, "Members of this Church who practice other professions or pursue other vocations, shall not advertise as healers, excepting those members who are officially engaged in the work of Christian Science, and they must devote ample time for faithful practice." ^{Man., Art. XXV, Sect. 9 ;}

The practice of Christian Science involves the healing of the sick and sinning. It is identical with the ministry undertaken by the disciples of Christ Jesus. "Go ye," he told them, "into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." ^{Mark 16:15 ;} And: "As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick." ^{Matt. 10:7, 8 ;} This healing practice acknowledges the all-power and all-presence of God, divine Love, the Father and Mother of the spiritual, the real, universe, including man. On this basis it denies the reality of evil, disease, death, and thereby destroys them.

Christ Jesus revealed the nature of God as divine Spirit, and gave to God the entire credit for the marvelous healing works that accompanied his preaching. He said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." ^{John 5:17 ;}

Today Christian Science practitioners recognize that healing is accomplished through the power of God, the creative Principle, divine Mind. The practitioners' prayers are treatment through the understanding that God is present and that He governs the true, spiritual universe through the divine law of harmony. These prayers are effective in establishing the true consciousness of God's kingdom at hand. This realization of the presence of the Christ, the true idea of God and His perfect universe and man, destroys the discord and disease that are the phenomena of false, material belief. It establishes a right condition of health in both mind and body.

Christian Science explains that a material body is not the actual identity of an individual son or daughter of God. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, "A material body only expresses a material and mortal mind." ^{Science and Health, p. 208 ;} Because the real man is God's perfect offspring, the spiritual idea of divine Mind, he manifests the pure consciousness of Love that constitutes enduring health. This perfect spiritual identity of the real man is recognized by a practitioner to be present in every one of his patients. The recognition is the light of the Christ coming to human thought. It displaces the false belief of mortal discord and results in healing.

Mrs. Eddy writes, "The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation." ^{Pref., p. xi.}

The practitioner holds in thought the understanding of the perfection of God's child. This attracts to him many human beings who deeply desire to be relieved of some bodily discomfort or disease. But a physical anomaly is only one of the false mortal conditions that he will be prepared to treat. Heartaches, the miseries of loneliness, lack and grief, faults of character, the sinful tendencies and aggressive, nagging suggestions of physical sense that claim to belong to a person's thinking and to make his human experiences miserable—all these are errors that a practitioner will need to be prepared to overcome. He will be confident that they, too, will "lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear" as he expectantly recognizes only the divine Mind's perfect universe and perfect man and looks to God for the healing.

The comfort that comes to human beings through the ministrations of a Christian Science practitioner is sweet, and those who engage in this ministry are richly rewarded by seeing its results. As Jesus did, they witness God's healing power taking away humanity's suffering through the Christ, and they are deeply grateful for the satisfaction of being in the Father's service to help mankind.