Article November 8, 2004 Issue

Freedom, at last

By Kenneth Girard—Arlington, Massachusetts

I began reading Science and Health 14 years ago. During that time, I asked various Christian Science practitioners to pray for me on different occasions. They were all kind, showing heartfelt dedication to God, and providing insights and prayers that helped me. Through their prayers, I had complete and permanent healings of a variety of physical troubles—from an infected toe to growths in each eyelid. However, the most significant healing for me was not physical in nature.

Prior to finding Christian Science, I had conducted an extensive search for spiritual answers to my questions about life. I came under the influence of two music teachers, a man and a woman involved in the occult. They seemed to have the answers that I was looking for. Other people, including a group of dedicated music students, followed their teachings. I naively and eagerly joined. After the woman passed away, the man took over and manipulated many, myself included, into believing that we were evil and sinful. I was under "house arrest" for four years, under the guise of promoting my spiritual growth and benefiting society—instilled with fears and suspicions. By the time I severed ties with the group, I had been involved with them for years.

As I studied Science and Health, I found its ideas to be freeing. The concepts of a completely good God and perfect creation—including me—began to ring true. But from those years of training in the occult, I still looked at everyone skeptically, distrusting their motives and regularly looking for signs of evil. I was afraid and superstitious. I also experienced vivid and horrifying nightmares, which seemed to threaten my very existence. Only as the truth taught in Science and Health dawned on my thought, did I slowly begin to get a glimmer of freedom. It was at this point that I placed my first call to a Christian Science practitioner, and was quickly healed of troubling conditions in my arm and toe. I realized that this Science of Christianity was the truth, and I broke away from the former teacher. Yet, the influence of those years of study and the subjection to confinement still affected me.

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