Editorial August 31, 1987 Issue

Quick relief and Christian healing

Michael D. Rissler

Christian Science may for many people bring to mind associations with faith and prayer and healing. Yet it is also a religion that places a premium on clear-minded, realistic thinking. Mrs. Eddy says in the preface to Science and Health, "The time for thinkers has come."

The challenging times in which we live don't necessarily make the job of thinking easy for any of us. And when Mrs. Eddy goes on to say, "Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away,"^{Science and Health, p. vii.} she couldn't state more succinctly one of the overriding truths of our age.

As I look back and consider some of the first things I observed about Christian Science, I now understand more clearly why the issue of Christian healing can be challenging to modern thinkers. For example, someone who I learned had some acquaintance with Christian Science was talking to me one day. She was then facing a painful emotional ordeal. One disappointment in particular was a hard blow, and she was in the midst of questioning the very existence of God. Life for her seemed cruel and unpromising. In addition, she had recently been ill—not seriously ill, but she felt physically distraught as well as emotionally drained. She had taken an over-the-counter medication, hoping to alleviate quickly the annoying symptoms of illness. She said that while she believed Christian Science could heal her if she was willing to study and pray, she didn't feel she had the time or the energy then to do so. To add to her confusion, the nagging symptoms of illness still lingered.

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