| https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TAYA9gKJkUi8lYqdEzN_sB3u-a2aDG3G/view?usp=sharing |
Why would reasonable people turn to the practice of spiritual healing in today’s high tech, pervasively medical culture?
Many automatically assume that Christian Scientists, who have been widely known for their practice of spiritual healing through more than a century, must not be “reasonable people.” Journalists often characterize them as “faith healers” – usually a term of derision implying ignorance and fanatical belief. And yet, this label is seriously misleading, as most such stereotypes are.
Christian Scientists are a diverse, substantial religious body. They see Christianity not as a church dogma, but as a way of life that has to be responsibly approached and profoundly thought through. They’re conscientious, thinking people, on the whole. Deep as their religious convictions are, they make their own choices and respect the rights of others to do the same. They appreciate the humanitarian efforts of doctors for those who turn to them.
The study republished here suggests the real reason for Christian Scientists’ continuing devotion to this practice: the actual experience of healing that it has repeatedly brought in their lives.
The study carefully quantifies the medical evidence referred to in many thousands of testimonies of healing published in the Christian Science Sentinel and Journal over a twenty-year period. Undertaken in 1989, it wasn’t (and isn’t) an effort to “prove” the truth of Christian Scientists’ faith, but simply to look at a large and challenging body of evidence that is generally ignored in public and academic discussion.
Christian Scientists themselves find these healings deeply humbling. We certainly recognize how much more we have to learn. We grieve just as others do when healing does not come. The study simply points to the breadth and scope of healing that has come through this consistent spiritual practice, and why Christian Scientists see such healing as significant beyond their own denomination.
Thoughtful people may differ in their views on the ultimate explanation of these experiences, but it’s neither honest nor scientific to dismiss them in a world that, for all its technical advances, still cries out for a deeper understanding of the spiritual sources of healing in every sphere of human life.
The bottom line is Christian Science prayer heals. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures Mary Baker Eddy states that Jesus “maintained his mission on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing” (p. 136). The practice of this system of Christian healing has resulted in significant cures of physical and mental problems for over a century. In Christian Science, the power of prayer lies not in faith alone but in a deeper understanding of God’s divine laws, which embrace humanity. This understanding touches and transforms the heart. Many people have found that as God’s presence and love become more real and tangible, healing and regeneration occur naturally