Several years ago my mother gave me a copy of the Christian Science. . .

E. Anthony Elder

Several years ago my mother gave me a copy of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. I read from the book spasmodically. I was neutral as far as accepting or rejecting what I had read.

Several months later upon awakening I felt ill. By noon the condition developed to the point where I telephoned a physician only to be told by the answering service to leave my name and the doctor would return my call in the evening. Now I was faced with the problem of what to do. Since I felt that the symptoms were becoming more pronounced, and I was afraid to take any medication whatsoever since I thought that it might do more harm than good, I talked to my mother, who told me to read from the textbook. I immediately opened the book and read.

As my reading progressed for the next couple of hours, I realized for the first time that I was studying spiritual truth. And for the first time I accepted the fact that this book contained the truth of God. When I closed the book that midafternoon, I was completely healed, for I had learned that God is the only cause, that He never caused illness, and that therefore I could not suffer from it. In the evening the doctor returned my phone call. I thanked him and told him that I no longer needed him.

Since that happy day God alone has been my Physician, and the application of Christian Science has been my only medicine.

It was several months after this first healing before I started to attend the services in a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, regularly. In those intervening months my attitude was that the textbook was all I needed, that church attendance was not for me. Then a Christian Science lecture fell on the same day as my mother's birthday. My mother told me that she, my dad, and my sister were planning to attend it. Out of love for our family I joined them on that Tuesday, never suspecting that the lecturer would give me the healing message about church attendance. The very next night found me in church; and this was the beginning of my regular attendance for both the Wednesday evening testimony meetings and the Sunday services. I was later told that every Christian Science lecture contains a healing message.

It became very clear to me that it is important to study both the Bible and Science and Health.Christian Scientists are aided in doing this by studying daily the Lesson-Sermons. In her writings Mrs. Eddy brings out the truth of being as taught by Christ Jesus. Study of the Lesson-Sermons helps one gain a better understanding of this. In Science and Health we read (p. 273), "Hence the importance of understanding the truth of being, which reveals the laws of spiritual existence." Soon after this I became a member of a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, then a member of The Mother Church, and since then have had class instruction, which has been of great benefit to me.

For all the many healings and other demonstrations of God's care that I have experienced as a student of Christian Science, I am indeed grateful. Words alone cannot express my deep gratitude for the Christian Science textbook, for the movement, and for its Discoverer and Founder, Mary Baker Eddy.

E. Anthony Elder
Shaker Heights, Ohio

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