Editorial July 20, 1992 Issue

The practice of Christian healing today

Richard C. Bergenheim

Most people who have heard of Christian Science recognize it as a religion that emphasizes the practice of Christian healing. For hundreds of years before its discovery, the doctrine of dispensationalism had convinced people that Christian healing was a special gift from God which came to a conclusion after the time of the apostles. Yet in the nineteenth century an extraordinary American woman from New England, Mary Baker Eddy, discovered the fact that the life of Christ Jesus still testified of the ever-present power of God to heal sickness as well as sin.

Like Sir George Cayley's discovery of the laws of aerodynamics in the early 1800s, which provided a basis for understanding the certainty of flight, the discovery that Christian healing operates according to a fixed and divine Principle secures it as a permanent dispensation for the welfare of mankind. In addition, Mrs. Eddy's discovery indicates that anyone can develop the spiritual understanding and Christian character required for its practice.

Key to our ability to practice Christian healing is an acceptance of the proof Christ Jesus provided that man is not by nature a sinner. He proved that the influence of God on human life destroys sin. The gospel accounts give examples of repentance, restitution, and regeneration. Christianity liberates the individual from sin through an acknowledgement of God, the perfect Principle, as the only true author of man. Spiritual man—and that is our real identity—does not come with a bad nature; neither does he have mental bents that compel him to misbehave; nor does he have a propensity to addiction; nor is he innately sensual. Jesus knew this. He knew this because he knew our Father, God, who is infinitely good. He knew that the child of God has to be Godlike. So he helped men and women to discover their true, spiritual nature and their sonship and daughtership with God. Sin has no hold on those who recognize their spiritual identity and nature. Our deliverance from the claims of sin by following Jesus' example endows us with ability to bring healing to mankind.

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