We are being confronted with new developments every day. Newspapers as well as radio and television programs are constantly reporting on innovations and improvements in all areas of life. And who wouldn't want to improve his or her living conditions—to exchange the old for the new?

There are of course, people who hold on to the old, who do not wish to part either with old habits or with old things, who reject almost anything new. Those who are sick or suffering, however, are surely quick to accept something new if it frees them from their difficulties. Christian Science, which is both new and old, can help them, for many thousands have experienced its healing effectiveness. They've been healed of sickness and sin, led out of difficulties, and have gained health and harmony.

Christian Science is "old" in that its message of God's love for man is based on the Bible. It applies the divine Principle upon which Christ Jesus' healings were based. It is "new" because its Science was discovered in the last century by a woman named Mary Baker Eddy. Her book Science and Health enables anyone who studies it to prove that this Principle still brings about healing through the prayer of understanding. In order to pray effectively, we have to give up our old views about God and His creation—give up belief in a punitive God and in a material universe—and exchange them for a true concept of God, who is only good, and of His perfect creation.

This healing prayer attributes all power to God, who is Life, Truth, and Love, and whose creation is as good as God Himself. Since sickness and all inharmony are not good, they do not belong to God's creation and must therefore be unreal. They are deceptions—beliefs of mortal, or material, thinking, which is termed mortal mind in Christian Science. This mortal mind must be laid off to make room in consciousness for spiritual truth.

In the textbook, Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes: "We cannot fill vessels already full. They must first be emptied. Let us disrobe error. Then, when the winds of God blow, we shall not hug our tatters close about us" (p. 201). These tatters, which we "hug close about us," are the human theories of health laws with their diagnoses and prognoses. Practically the whole of mankind has been educated to accept them and to obey their rules. Sometimes relatives and friends, in their loving concern, watch to see that we are obeying these decrees. Then it may be particularly difficult for us to resist, to give up the old belief, and to take on the new—the Science of Christianity.

When Bartimaeus cried out to Christ Jesus to heal him of his blindness, he did not let the crowd stop him from reaching out to the Christ, the true idea of God and man. The Bible says, "And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me" (Mark 10:48). When Christ Jesus called him, Bartimaeus first cast away his garment—what we might call the baggage of human beliefs—and was instantly healed of his blindness.

Similarly, we too must cast away everything that hinders us from mentally going to Christ in order to be freed from sickness or sin. We must not allow the "crowd" of traditional human opinions to keep us from giving up the old for the new—exchanging mortal beliefs for the divine realities. The beliefs of sin, sickness, and mortality that we drag around with us would weigh us down. We should throw off this ballast as soon as possible and exchange it for health, harmony, faith, and brotherly love.

We gain the true idea of God and of the spiritual qualities of man through the study of Christian Science, which teaches us that man is the idea of God—not material but spiritual. He is the very image of God, who always expresses God's being. God's man—and in reality there isn't any other man—is sinless, healthy, and immortal; he coexists with God, his creative Principle.

Mrs. Eddy writes in the textbook, "Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence" (p. 249). If we follow these words we will experience the glorious freedom of the children of God. Discord disappears, and we will see more and more of the harmony of spiritual reality. We don't necessarily achieve this desirable goal suddenly; but through persistent study we gain a greater understanding of Truth and so quite naturally grow out of the old and put on the new. This is similar to what happens when we outgrow an old piece of clothing and put on a new one. Through this true, spiritual understanding of God and His creation, our lives change for the better. In ever greater measure we experience God's reality, expressed in harmony and perfection. We love our fellow beings as God's children; we feel protected and safe in divine Love, and let divine Principle guide our steps.