Article December 12, 1983 Issue

Christian Science: what difference does it make?

ROBERT S. RYF

The logical outcome of the healing ministry of Christ Jesus is Christian Science practice. His healing method is made explicit and given continuity through the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, particularly in their insistence upon a fundamental and radical transformation of thought from a material to a spiritual basis. Thus the truth of Christian Science, rightly applied, comes to make a central difference in the lives of all who are touched and healed by it, just as did this same truth when Christ Jesus employed it in his healings.

Seeing the crippled man at Bethesda, Jesus set aside the human picture, refusing to accept either the traditional theological concept of a selectively benevolent God or the man's apparent resignation to his infirmity. Jesus' bold command "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk"^{John 5:8.} broke through the man's hypnotic belief in the condition, and the healing was immediate.

When Jesus and his disciples encountered the man blind from birth, the disciples began analyzing the situation in terms of traditional theology. But a world of difference lay between their approach and the Master's. The condition they wanted to know a cause for, he refused to accept as real. Again, the healing took place then and there: the man's sight was restored.

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