Article April 27, 1987 Issue

The media and disease

Just because a certain disease is reported on the evening news doesn't mean that you or I have to accept the predictions that we too will get sick.

Sharon Slaton Howell

It is reassuring to know one can remain healthy at a time when disease is being magnified and potentially multiplied by publicity. Many of the reports about disease are well intentioned and meant as a public service. There is, however, a side to all the current media attention that thoughtful citizens should be aware of. Mrs. Eddy points out in Science and Health: "The press unwittingly sends forth many sorrows and diseases among the human family. It does this by giving names to diseases and by printing long descriptions which mirror images of disease distinctly in thought."^{Science and Health, pp. 196–197.}

Fortunately, no one actually has to live with the tormenting worry "Will I be next to become ill?" There is a way not only to eliminate fear of these maladies but to prevent them from occurring. The Way-shower, Christ Jesus, admonished his disciples: "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."^{Mark 13:37.} Through the study and application of Christian Science, one may learn how to watch, how to defend oneself from disease and suffering. The Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, contains many things one can do mentally, prayerfully, to safeguard his physical harmony. For example, it tells us: "Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously. When the condition is present which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise, heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears. Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the body cannot suffer from them."^{Science and Health, p. 392.}

Christian Science, in accord with the inspired Word of the Bible, teaches that God is the invariably loving and only cause, the sole creator of the universe, including man, and that this creation is spiritual, wholly good. As we learn from the Bible, man is God's handiwork, is like Him. Accepting the Biblical revelation of the spiritual nature of all being, Christian Science shows us that in truth all cause and effect are spiritual, and this effect is the flawless work of God, divine Mind.

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