This article is part of a series appearing occasionally in the Sentinel, The Christian Science Journal, and The Herald of Christian Science. Each article aims to correct some misconception about Christian Science that would keep us from having the results we so desire as spiritual healers.

As a boy, I saw a movie about genies, and I was fascinated. I knew that genies—portrayed in Western culture as wish-granting spirits with magical powers—were only fantasy, but there was something enticing about the concept of being able to call on a being with superpowers to intervene and fix problems. In my Christian Science Sunday School class, I had been hearing about God and all the wonderful things recorded in the Bible that God had done for people. I wondered if God’s job was to intervene in people’s lives, sort of like a genie.