Christian Science Perspective audio edition

Loading the player...

My country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, is presently facing a new outbreak of the Ebola virus in its northern region. Reports of infectious diseases, whether in our immediate area of residence or in remote places, deserve everyone’s attention and prayers.

I have naturally joined all who are praying about this challenging situation. I pray in the way I have learned from the teachings and the life experience of Christ Jesus, who proved that God’s ever-present love does not simply alleviate suffering and disease but heals them. He found healing natural because he acknowledged that the healer in every case is God and that with Him “all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). On this basis, he healed many chronic and infectious conditions, including several cases of what is referred to as leprosy and was viewed as highly contagious.

Christian Science has taught me to base my prayers on the solid spiritual foundation of Jesus’ teachings – namely, the allness and perfection of God and the nothingness or unreality of anything unlike God, good. Disease obviously falls into the latter category; it is not from God but the result of an erroneous belief in a reality or power opposed to God, the All-in-all. Indeed, Christian Science has taught me that God is One – the only power and all good, not the source of any evil, such as disease. Evil having no reality or power, we cannot be susceptible to it in any form.

My prayers for my country and for people everywhere rest on the certitude that God’s ever-present love, power, and wisdom will ultimately destroy any belief in a power opposed to His good and perfect creation. Such trust in God kept me untouched by an outbreak of the flu at my workplace several years ago.

At the time, I had a private office, and my staff had desks in an open space shared with employees from other departments. Whenever I came out of my office and shook hands with some of my staff or hugged them, a few warned that I shouldn’t; otherwise, I would be contaminated. But I did so without fear and never suffered any ill effects. I assured them that I could not be contaminated by anyone, nor could I affect them except with good health. I held in thought that God, good, fills all space, leaving no room for something like flu to rule. A virus has no intelligence, reality, or power to transmit itself to anyone. Only that which is good is communicable. To the degree that we understand man’s spiritual nature, we help lift ourselves and others out of the plague of infectious disease and the fear of it.

Fear, like ignorance, shuts our eyes to and paralyzes our trust in God’s omnipotence, omniscience, and unfailing love for His children, whereas the understanding of God’s ever-present goodness removes the fear that generates suffering.

Today, I am taking the mental stand that God does not leave the government of His creation to something evil such as disease. Psalm 91 is one of the Bible texts that foster my trust in God’s protecting power. For instance, verses 9 through 11 promise: “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

The following passage from the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, lifts my thought above the negative and intimidating reports of disease: “Jesus never asked if disease were acute or chronic, and he never recommended attention to laws of health, never gave drugs, never prayed to know if God were willing that a man should live. He understood man, whose Life is God, to be immortal, and knew that man has not two lives, one to be destroyed and the other to be made indestructible” (p. 369).

Deepen your worldview

with Monitor Highlights.

Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.

I pray to see beyond the distressing picture of contagious disease and understand what Jesus taught about man’s immortality – to recognize, as he did, God’s perfection reflected throughout His creation. Wherever Jesus was called on for help, he recognized no sick person, no sinner, no dead person, no one in irreversible threat, nothing hard or impossible to achieve. He knew that God, divine Truth, is the governing power and intelligence of the universe. For this reason, Jesus was able to prove then what we are being called to prove – and are able to prove – today: “Truth handles the most malignant contagion with perfect assurance” (Science and Health, p. 176). I remain confident that the healing power of divine Truth does not change or lose its efficacy.

These ideas fill me with the expectation of good – or, shall I say, the certitude that God’s will for His beloved children is only good and will ultimately prevail. Nothing can overrule God’s omnipotent and omnipresent love and care.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.

Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.

The Christian Science Monitor was founded in 1908 to lift the standard of journalism and uplift humanity. We aim to “speak the truth in love.” Our goal is not to tell you what to think, but to give you the essential knowledge and understanding to come to your own intelligent conclusions. Join us in this mission by subscribing.

Thank you for contacting The Christian Science Monitor.

Show more