Article May 18, 2015 Issue

Christian Science healing—more than just health care

Constance Wallingford

An intriguing question was raised: “Is Christian Science a health-care system?” While acknowledging that physical healing results from Christianly scientific prayer, I was unwilling to answer a straight “yes.” For me to convey that Christian Science is merely a health-care system would have been misleading and incorrect. Christ Jesus didn’t heal simply to provide an alternative health-care system for the world. He presented a radically different view of reality. He acknowledged his unity with his Father, God, and that the healing works he did were solely the outcome of his divine understanding of that relationship to God.

The Bible has numerous references to God as Spirit, and to God as all. Based on these foundational biblical truths, Christian Science concludes that all is spiritual. Christian Science reveals the divine reality, which lifts us out of the material picture mentally, and thus changes the human evidence.

It can be tempting to focus our thoughts on the material scene—examining the body and its actions. We may think that our goal is simply to keep the body healthy, and therefore that we need to spend our time focused primarily on it. But this is actually counterproductive to health and well-being. By turning our thoughts away from the body, and lifting them to spiritual reality, we find an uplifted spiritual consciousness that gives us a deeper perspective on what is real, and we also experience freedom from bodily discords.

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