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On finding health, only health
It’s not uncommon for a patient who has been suffering from an obvious—even serious, and sometimes medically diagnosed—disease to be found in perfect health after receiving Christian Science treatment through prayer. Adherents of Christian Science are constantly striving to understand exactly how such decisive healing occurs, and how to bring such results more consistently into their own practice. In doing so, it’s natural to turn to Jesus’ example and teachings in the Bible, as well as to the chapter “Christian Science Practice” in the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
Mrs. Eddy closes that chapter with a detailed allegory of a mental trial in which a patient is found, on the grounds of testimony from common medical, theological, and other theories, sentenced to death—but where the testimony of Christian Science reverses that sentence, and the patient rises up “regenerated, strong, free” (p. 442).
While there is much to ponder in that allegory, there is one passage that especially captures my attention whenever I read it. It is where Christian Science, as counsel for the patient, testifies, “We send our best detectives to whatever locality is reported to be haunted by Disease, but on visiting the spot, they learn that Disease was never there, for he could not possibly elude their search” (pp. 439–440). Wow! That’s a mind-bender.
Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.
May 6, 2013 issue
View Issue-
Letters
Jane Carey, Maggie Johnson
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On finding health, only health
Barbara Vining
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An answer to prayer
Marsha Cobb
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It all adds up
Madora Kibbe
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Dealing with competition
Heather Libbe, The Harrisons, Amanda Weitman, Gillian Fife Rees
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'The dearest spot on earth'
Cate Vincent
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Staying on top of the news
Michelle Nanouche
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Baptism
Photograph by Laurie Scott
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No 'paradise lost'
Karen Merryweather Bailey
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A way to love
Janet Hegarty
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Fight bullying with prayer
Karl Garrett
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Healing on a ski trip
John Kohler
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From cataract to clarity
Nancy Gingras
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Skin cancer and body pain gone
Chris Wye
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Removal of fear yields healing
Emily Sander
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No more Parkinson's disease
Bradford Moore Boyd
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Real indestructibility
The Editors