Testimony of Healing January 7, 2019 Issue

The ‘essence’ of Christian Science heals chest cold symptoms

Jack Schaberg

At one point this past year, I began feeling the symptoms of a chest cold. I prayed to know that God, the essence of true being, knows nothing about a chest cold, and that as His reflection, neither could I. After a few days, though, when I found that the condition wasn’t going away, a hint of fear—and isn’t all fear irrational?—crept in, asking, “What if it doesn’t go away, but instead keeps getting worse?” That was the wake-up call for me, because by this time the condition had developed into a very bad cough that left me feeling extremely run down. I knew it was time to give myself a decisive Christian Science treatment.

One of my favorite statements in Mary Baker Eddy’s textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, is this promise on page 406: “The Bible contains the recipe for all healing.” As I thoughtfully prayed over this God-inspired statement, a couple of interesting insights occurred to me. First, the passage doesn’t say the Bible contains the recipe for some or even most healing, but all healing—regardless of what seems to be ailing us. That thought alone is very reassuring. Second, it doesn’t say the Bible contains just the directions or instructions for all healing, but the whole recipe. This led me to ponder the difference between the three words directions, instructions, and recipe. I realized that when one follows a recipe, it is necessary to first find and assemble all the ingredients.

While considering where the ingredients of healing can be found in the Bible, I turned back to the Christian Science textbook and examined a passage on page 271 where Mrs. Eddy, talking about the Science of Christianity, says, “The Sermon on the Mount is the essence of this Science ....” Knowing the importance Mrs. Eddy placed on Jesus’ teachings, my thought returned to the idea of a recipe, and to the fact that all recipes contain ingredients essential to their success. For instance, no matter what else you use, you typically need flour of some sort to bake a cake.

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