Editorial May 22, 1989 Issue

What is Christian Science treatment?

Allison W. Phinney, Jr.

You understand that Christian Scientists rely on prayer for healing. But you've also heard something about Christian Science treatment. You wonder how treatment is different from prayer.

Actually, this kind of treatment is a form of prayer. It proceeds from the fact that God is supremely good and that He doesn't create, nor do His laws sustain, disease and evil. A Christian Scientist who is "treating" illness, for example, is making the effort to acknowledge strongly, and as fully as he possibly can, God's all-presence and goodness. Prayer takes a variety of forms—from petition (simply asking God for His help, for example) to using a prayer that has been familiar from childhood—but Christian Science treatment is the persistent application of spiritual truths to a situation in order to bring healing.

According to Christian Science, illness, along with the other discords of life, is, at bottom, the result of the ignorance, fear, or sin of the human mind. The most basic medicine is therefore not the concoction of a drug or highly refined matter but is the divine Mind and its healing influence. As Christian Scientists view it, this understanding of an infinite, present, and totally good God is the means by which Christ Jesus healed. And as Paul encouraged all Christians to do, the Christian Scientist is striving to have that Mind "which was also in Christ Jesus."^{ Phil. 2:5.}

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