Testimony of Healing April 15, 2013 Issue

Freedom from eye disease

Rita Jones

Several years ago, while our daughter was in the tenth grade, we learned from her that she was having difficulty seeing the chalkboard at the front of the class. She explained that when she looked directly at the board, or anything for that matter, she could only see with her peripheral vision and the area in the center of her vision was fuzzy. That evening I discussed the problem with my husband, who is not a Christian Scientist, and a decision was made to take our daughter to a local optometrist to have her eyes examined. I was grateful then, and continue to be grateful, that my husband and I can respect each other’s thoughts on healing and make important decisions together.

When we called the optometrist to set up an appointment and described the situation, he wanted to see our daughter immediately. As a result of that appointment, he said we should take her right away to a well-known facility for eyes in the city. When we called to make the appointment, they, too, wanted to see her immediately, so we drove there the next day. After an examination, a diagnosis was made of a degenerative eye disease. A doctor outlined what that meant and described possible physical causes. What I remember the most is that he used the word stress. He recommended that we return for a follow-up visit in a couple of weeks so he could look at my daughter’s eyes again. 

That word stress brought to my thought the word pressure, and a statement in the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. It says, “Christian Scientists must live under the constant pressure of the apostolic command to come out from the material world and be separate” (p. 451). I saw this as a directive to me to realize that eyes can only be as they are defined in the Glossary of Science and Health: “Eyes. Spiritual discernment,—not material but mental” (p. 586). For me, this mental concept is what separates Christian Science from the claims of the material world. I saw that this report of eye disease could only stem from a false belief of eyes as physical structures. Another statement from Science and Health describes the limitations of leaning on this material view, “How transient a sense is mortal sight, when a wound on the retina may end the power of light and lens!” (p. 214).