Article February 8, 2010 Issue

SPIRITUAL HEALING —NOT GUESSWORK

BY BILL MOODY

The "still, small voice" of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound. The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, "as when a lion roareth." It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear. It arouses the "seven thunders" of evil, and stirs their latent forces to utter the full diapason of secret tones. Then is the power of Truth demonstrated,—made manifest in the destruction of error.
—Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 559

When someone initially learns of Christian Science and its spiritual means for healing, one of the first questions often asked is whether it really works, and is it reliable. And some inquirers, because of the connection of Christian Science healing with a religious movement, may have mistakenly confused it with a kind of blind faith-cure. Yet, while certainly upholding a deep trust and conviction in God's power to heal, Christian Scientists earnestly endeavor to couple their faith with a growing understanding of God and His immutable laws of harmony to direct and govern their lives.

In the early days of the Christian Science movement, a newspaper reporter once filed a story about the establishment of the first congregation in Baltimore, Maryland. The reporter quoted Dr. Hammond, who discussed the Christian Scientists' practice of healing, grounded on their spiritual understanding of the Bible. Dr. Hammond noted: "We find in this view of the Bible the power fully developed to heal the sick. It is not faith-cure, but it is an acknowledgment of certain Christian and scientific laws, and to work a cure the practitioner must understand these laws aright" (Pulpit and Press, p. 69).

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