Come join us for fun and memories of days gone by! But, also take a minute and read this thought provoking article by James Spencer in the Christian Science Journal where he discounts the idea that the “good old days” of Christian Science healing is a thing of the past.
The good old days
By James Spencer
From the December 2016 issue of The Christian Science Journal
A friend of mine told me, after a church service, that he had formerly been a member of a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, in the Midwest. Everyone there knew of a woman who had come to a service painfully lame, leaning on a cane, and left the service completely well. He said she hadn’t known anything about Christian Science at the time. That was in the early days of the Christian Science movement, and my friend said with awe: “That’s the way it used to be. Those were the good old days!” Then he said sadly, “Those days are gone.”
“But they’re not gone,” I told him. “Christian Science, Divine Science, the Comforter, is no different today!” I quoted a familiar passage to him from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures—a passage that shelves forever the “good old days” syndrome, where its author, Mary Baker Eddy, writes: “It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good” (p. 494).
“Even in our everyday experience, we would never believe the principle of mathematics to be less viable or available today than in the “good old days.”……..
That universal, divine power has its source in God, divine Principle. That power, so freely and fully demonstrated by Christ Jesus, is actually God’s timeless law of good that reforms and restores those in need of healing. The Master’s mission didn’t terminate with time, because God, infinite, eternal Love, doesn’t stop being Love. And spiritual law doesn’t stop being law. Even in our everyday experience, we would never believe the principle of mathematics to be less viable or available today than in the “good old days.” And that’s what I told my friend.
True, if a mathematician stops taking the study of math seriously, stops consistently applying the math he knows, decides not to go forward to pursue higher forms of mathematics, or is diverted from his study and application by a flood of activities, there probably won’t be much progress in his understanding of mathematical operations and the relationship between numbers and the principle of math. That, however, could not destroy, or even attenuate, the law of mathematics. But it would undoubtedly make a significant impact on the mathematician and his ability to serve those in need of the science of numbers.
Mrs. Eddy draws an interesting comparison between Christ’s practical Christianity and mathematics when she writes, referring to relying on divine Principle, God: “If we work to become Christians as honestly and as directly upon a divine Principle, and adhere to the rule of this Principle as directly as we do to the rule of mathematics, we shall be Christian Scientists, and do more than we are now doing, and progress faster than we are now progressing” (Christian Healing, pp. 8–9).
The perfect, timeless law of good to which we need to apply ourselves is the law of the divine Principle, Love—the Science that governs God’s universe, maintaining the harmony and order of His infinite creation. The Psalmist said: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul” (Psalms 19:7).
Divine Science, the Holy Ghost, is ever operative and ever effective.
One reason the healings attributed to “the good old days” might seem a thing of the past is that there does appear to be increased resistance to the study and application of Christian Science, brought about partly by the antagonism of materialism to things of the Spirit, by ignorance of what Christian Science is, and by a misconception of its Discoverer and Founder, Mary Baker Eddy. The basis of the resistance is the age-old belief in a power and presence apart from God. It has been given many names in the Bible: Lucifer, deceiver, antichrist, liar, adversary, serpent—to mention just a few. This impersonal, lawless antagonism changes its name and method from year to year, and from moment to moment. It claims to be something when it is actually nothing. But the subtlety of it is that its claim often tempts one to believe in its somethingness. It could be likened to darkness, which is only the absence of light, although the darkness may seem very real to one who has lost the path of light. Jesus was well aware of such temptation, and called it “a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). The liar even tried to tempt Jesus to believe that it was his own thinking (see Matthew 4:1–11).
Despite the remarkable success of Jesus’ mission, he still had to deal with the constant heaviness of the world’s resistance. It culminated in the final attempt to destroy him through the crucifixion. But hatred, envy—material mindedness—couldn’t terminate the effect of his God-mission. His disciples continued to do good works, though they also had to handle the resistance to Truth and Love. And so must we. The Master gave us this admonition: “Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27).
The Christian Science textbook explains: “The real cross, which Jesus bore up the hill of grief, was the world’s hatred of Truth and Love” (p. 50). I have often felt that the same type of resistance aimed at the Christ, the power and presence of divine Love that Jesus so fully expressed, is the figurative cross we bear today. It often appears as a relentless, patient, silent, systematic, ongoing presentation of materialism, projected before individuals generally or to some individuals specifically. Not everyone picks up or is aware of the suggestions, but everyone is subjected to them. Persistent spiritual alertness, purity of thought, unselfed love, and an understanding of the actual allness of divine Mind, resists the suggestions, or enables one to be completely immune to them.
The opportunity is ever available to neutralize the aggressive arguments and resistance to Truth, to uncover and remove the diversions that would aggressively attempt to tamp down the practical progress of the Cause of Christian Science. The opportunity is right at hand to defeat the false sense that attempts to delay and reverse the advancement of spiritual good in the individual Christian Scientist. The success of both the beginner and the seasoned worker is assured as each becomes aware of the guidance and comforting love of divine Love, our Father-Mother God. No one can actually be separated or isolated from the comfort and care provided by the loving ministrations of divine Science, the Holy Comforter.
Science and Health explains: “The real man being linked by Science to his Maker, mortals need only turn from sin and lose sight of mortal selfhood to find Christ, the real man and his relation to God, and to recognize the divine sonship” (p. 316).
Mortals are the direct contradiction, the counterfeit, the non–image and likeness, of Spirit, God. Christ, the real, ideal man, is the direct image and likeness, the self-expression, of divine Mind, the all-knowing God. I have found much inspiration in the realization that as mortals recognize, accept, and understand the real man that Jesus exemplified, this humble acceptance and understanding unfolds the Science of Christ to consciousness. This Christ Science operates as law, with the reliability of law, and heals all manner of sickness and sin today as it did in Jesus’ day.
The Science of being that demonstrates our eternal life in God, Life, is here for everyone. But it needs to be understood and practiced.
Here is how one individual turned to this Science when faced with a very pressing need. “In my country,” he related, “if you want to renew or update a prescription for your glasses, it’s mandatory that you see a medical doctor. I had just gone to one to have him give me an eye exam. He diagnosed a cataract in my left eye, and told me I needed to have a surgical operation right away, as the cataract was increasing. I didn’t have the surgery. I asked a Christian Science practitioner for treatment about it. After a short time, I felt free and discontinued treatment. Some time later, I returned to the doctor for the mandatory examination. His answer was that I would never need surgery, as the eye and vision were normal. The healing has been permanent.”
The practitioner prayed to see, or understand, the ideal man as the creative self-expression of God. It became evident to the practitioner that true vision is the outcome of clear spiritual understanding. Even in our everyday experience, when we don’t understand something, we might say, “I just can’t see it.” Then when the understanding comes we say, “Now I see it clearly.” Divine Mind perfectly knows, sees, understands, all, because it knows itself and its perfection. Therefore, for divine Mind to know is for divine Mind to see—and for man to know, because he reflects Mind, is for man to see, because he reflects Mind.
It was clear to the practitioner that human vision is no more dependent on a material eye when we’re awake, than when we seem to see objects when we’re asleep. The practitioner had a clear perception that man is not mortal, but immortal, spiritual, perfect, and whole; that spiritual man, the ideal man, is eternally governed by divine law. Every law of divine Principle that governs the spiritual idea, man, is effective right here and now, as Jesus proved by healing all manner of sickness. The practitioner understood that a medical diagnosis couldn’t outline a course of development for the patient, that it had no authority to dominate, or to impose an outcome. Resistance to the timeless, healing Christ couldn’t delay or obviate the present operation of spiritual law. Divine Science, the Holy Ghost, is ever operative and ever effective.
The fact is, we actually live in the eternal now of God’s ever-presence. Therefore, this healing, and every Christian Science healing, teaches us not to look longingly to the past. This brings the assurance that the “good old days” are truly the “good present days,” and are a promise of all the days to come!
You are also invited to join us for our Sunday church service at the Reading Room in person or on
zoom Sunday morning at 10 am PT. To let us know you are coming, please email us at christiansciencenote@gmail.com and we can send a link to our meeting. After church we have an open discussion about the week’s Bible lesson and/or testimonies of healing and comments and questions about Christian Science.
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