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Chapter 3 - The Christ and Christian Science.
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This may explain why the early flood of Christian Science healing activity has dried up over the years. The trend is undeniable. Christian Science churches are becoming empty while the truths that are documented in the Christian Science textbook are word for word the same as they have always been. The question may be asked whether medical advances have made Christian Science healing obsolete, in that it offers a great certainty of healing and demands so much less of the patient in terms of honesty to oneself and to God.
In exploring this question, while there have been undeniable advances in medical effectiveness, it must also be recognized that the list of diseases that modern medicine is unable cure is getting longer, rather than shorter. It must further be recognized that in contrast to the still largely uncertain medical procedures, Christian Science treatment affords, fundamentally, a greater certainty of healing, even at the present time. Although, it must be recognized that genuine Christian Science is becoming exceedingly rare, as this Science becomes overshadowed with will-power, psychology, formalism, personality, religiosity and indoctrination. Today's explosion of material humanism has taken the focus away from scientific principles and the experiences unfolding through creative discoveries. In this context, the Christian Science churches have become a very dangerous place for some people as the religious zeal is imposing a double jeopardy. While people's hopes are kindled by the once demonstrated capabilities, even to the point that medical treatments are refused, many find their hopes unfulfilled. Sometimes this is continued to the point at which death follows. Little is published about the failures that occur, and the lives that are destroyed through mental quackery under the name of Christian Science healing, which is quite possible as the name itself produces no healing. Wisdom urges caution, and vigilance. Mary Baker Eddy even suggests: "If Christian Scientists ever fail to receive aid from other Scientists,--their brethren upon whom they may call,--God will still guide them into the right use of temporary and eternal means."*(Science and Health 444:7)
We have a strange situation, here, don't we? We have a stark contrast of bright promise pitted against a deep want. The contrast needs to be reconciled. But how does one do it? Both aspects are so evidently real. On one hand we have the undeniable potential of scientific metaphysical healing, and on the other hand we have an ever increasing avalanche of failures according to today's experiences.
The contrast that is seen, implies that the current practice of Christian Science treatment that frequently results in failure, has evidently little in common with the operation of divine Science that Christian Science is merely a facet of. The fundamental concepts of Christian Science that are presented in this chapter, must therefore by recognized as mere starting points, though essential starting points that should separate mental humanism from the metaphysics of infinite Spirit and divine Love. Only, how does one achieve the separation?
Many a person who has been healed has stated in talking about their spiritual healing experiences, that a certain passage from the Bible, or from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, suddenly stood out with a whole new significance as though that person had never read the passage before, while the fact is that the same passage had been pondered countless of times in the past. These gleams of Truth that bring a new light to the scene, are frequently cited by those who were healed as having been directly responsible for the healing that followed.
Whenever such gleams of Truth result in healing, it cannot be said that Christian Science has lost its effectiveness. In a logical sense, the nature of Truth is never effected by time, even the flow of the centuries. When Christ Jesus spoke and healed in Galilee, he worked from the same foundation of absolute Truth that exists unaltered today. It is certainly possible that the mental environment in which human perception unfolds has changed over the centuries. Today's perceptions reflect what the human thought allows itself to perceive of man's spiritual nature, based on a certain background in education. It may certainly be said that the world's modern systems of scientific materialism have isolated mankind, unwittingly, from a concept of reality that is wholly spiritual. This isolation has created a mental atmosphere in which God, or Truth, is no longer a factor, or at best is a factor that is far removed from the 'real' world. In such an environment of materialistic humanism, the fundamental statements of Christian Science appear in an entirely different light, which reflects itself in what is being perceived as reality. Mary Baker Eddy has dedicated her life to enable human perception to come into agreement with what Christ Jesus demonstrated as truth. She writes: "Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living is the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man's dominion over the whole earth."*(Science and Health 14:25)
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