QUESTIONS and ANSWERS
(Please note that all questions from students and guests are indicated by bold typeface.)
What to do ( or how to think) about people who ask for prayerful support, and then never follow up to let you know how they are doing?
Great question as this one is really getting into the details of our relationship with our patients!
The short answer is: sometimes they will and sometimes they won’t. But it is up to you to set up the expectations of how often they call.
It is so very important - so very important - that when you give treatment you give it until you have no more doubt. You may not know what “angel you are entertaining unaware” but God’s word - understood - is moving away the clouds and is advancing human consciousness. You may hear from them - you may not. But trust the work.
A case in point: Recently, I got a call from an individual for help, and I recognized his name from some prayerful work we had done together a few years ago. I recall it had something to do with his relationship with his daughter. I did not hear from him for years. Then he shared that the healing work went beyond that, and he had been healed of addiction since our work together. He is grateful every day for that and wanted to let me know that.
But now for the longer answer: You set up your practice as you are inspired to do so.
Some governing aspects to the answer from the Manual :
A member of The Mother Church shall not, under pardonable circumstances, sue his patient for recovery of payment for said member’s practice, on penalty of discipline and liability to have his name removed from membership. Also he shall reasonably reduce his price in chronic cases of recovery, and in cases where he has not effected a cure. A Christian Scientist is a humanitarian; he is benevolent, forgiving, long-suffering, and seeks to overcome evil with good. (Manual of The Mother Church, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 46:12–3)
Although each case takes on its own character, these are some things that I have found helpful in my work. Other practitioners will have the same metaphysical basis but may demonstrate this differently. Then, as you pray for the right solution, you can see for yourself what works best for you.
“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
And then, when prayer turns to praise, you have completed the treatment.
I am still working on issues of disease /illness and have done so for years. How am I to pray and still expect healing about this?
Persistence wins the prize.
Spiritual growth is going on all the time.
Healing ( that revealing of God’s creation) is going on all the time.
Answer the question - which swing of the ax has felled the tree?
Note that there should be movement - a shifting of thought - throughout your prayerful work.
Christian Science treatment is the absolute acknowledgment of present perfection. It is not about human achievement but about the acknowledgment of the divine working in all things.
Keep praying! God’s word does not return unto us void! Movement, health, and purity are constantly making themselves known. Soul MUST be represented. Healing is always happening.
You know, there's an account in Mark of Jesus in a storm with the disciples. Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. His disciples basically kind of come and say, “Why aren’t you concerned about us? Don’t you see our storm?” And he basically says, “No, don’t you see my peace?” And he calms the storm [see Mark 4:36–41].
One writer explains the healing approach:
“The human body expresses the thoughts that govern the mind of the individual who identifies himself with it. If these thoughts are Christlike—in accord with the divine Mind, or God—the body will be healthy. But if they are from mortal mind—the diseased, discordant thoughts of false, mortal belief—the body will be liable to diseased, discordant conditions.
The way to solve any problem, therefore, is to pour into human thought the truths of real, God-created being—being that is wholly spiritual, reflecting the goodness of God, every whit whole, radiantly healthy, manifesting freedom and strength. “ ( Naomi Price “Solving Chronic Problems”)
Some issues I continue to pray about are:
Aging restrictions
Disruptive sleep
Aging restrictions
How to deal with disruptive sleep?
We expect to be active in our work in the day - glorifying God - doing good works!
So that when night time comes “even the night will be light about you”!
A calling in the night is a calling for prayer and the highest rest is in holy work.
This Psalm helps explain this:
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”
(Psalms 139:7–14)
What is spiritual success in healing? And what about the elusive Comforter?
So—questions, issues. I have been watching Season 4 of the Chosen, having watched and enjoyed the previous seasons. If you are familiar with this series, I would invite your thoughts as to its overall value, and especially the quandary which has been framed in the current season with the killing of Thomas’ fiancée, Ramah, and Jesus’ seeming refusal to raise her from the dead—even while raising Lazarus later. The developer of this series has admitted that they intentionally created this dramatic element in the series to visualize these situations of seeming inconsistency in Jesus’ healing ministry and presumably shed light on them; in the case of the death of Ramah, there is clearly no historical fact being referenced.
Sidebar on The Chosen - note that the writing of The Chosen is coming out of a more evangelical theology - one that believes that God is manlike - Jesus is God - who may be willing to heal but He is not able (to handle oppressive issues) or that God may be able to heal but is not always willing ( as shown in the added stories that are not found in the Bible in the series The Chosen).
The added stories that are not in the Bible (James as an invalid, the death of Thomas’ fiance, and other stories not in the Bible) serve to answer questions raised by the theology of believing that God allows suffering.
Why is there suffering? Why is there sickness? How come I am not healed when I pray? These are all universal questions.
In Christian Science, we learn that God is both willing AND able and that as we walk closely with the teachings of Christ Jesus we are able to heal to a degree as he healed and taught others to heal.
Yet for me, it does raise the question of : why is he/she a successful healer and I am not? Why was he/she spared and my family member was not? Etc etc. It is an age-old question. Even if you have not watched this series, the question of how do we explain lack of spiritual success by one whom we may call faithful and how do we reconcile this lack of success with a loving God? I would define faithful here as someone who is active in their religion, who strives to apply what they have learned in church, who is a good person, an active church member, who shows up. Spiritual success in this context is probably more difficult to define, but I guess might be simply defined as the spiritual benefits of faith . I’m not just talking about physical healing, it could also be healing of the heart, a delivering of someone from the depths who seems to be constantly experiencing sorrow or hardship. For me, the spiritual benefits of faith would be discovering and maintaining peace in the midst of turmoil . I know what I have read in Christian Science about this type of question, but could you perhaps talk a bit about what some may call the elusive Comforter?
So — an elusive Comforter - who has moved? The Comforter aka the Holy Ghost aka DIvine Science aka the law of God, good – is not a variable human. The law of God, good, is omnipresent and omnipotent.
What is spiritual success?
Be alert to judging on the basis of the material senses aka health snobbery (See Peel’s MBE: The Years of Trial about this.)
“.... there was a danger that Christian Scientists might come to believe that physical health of itself was a sign of grace, i.e., that a well body was more acceptable to God than a sick one. Her statement, “The healthy sinner is the hardened sinner,”
17 was enough to shatter such an assumption. Yet experience had shown her that some naturally robust Christian Scientists were strongly inclined toward a kind of health snobbery, believing themselves spiritually superior to other Christian Scientists (herself, for instance) who might labor at times under severe physical disabilities.
18 Kimball who, despite his extraordinarily active life, experienced occasional periods of acute suffering, wrote with some relief that Mrs. Eddy had told him “we would all be tested and that we might be glad that our temptations came in the way of sickness rather than sin.”19”
From “Struggles - opportunities to prove our oneness with God” ( See https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/qqqr1y7lzw?s=copylink) : “I felt I needed to get a better perspective on what it means to struggle. Was I thinking that a Christian Scientist would never need to struggle? Had I unwittingly fallen into some kind of health snobbery? Mary Baker Eddy writes, "If you launch your bark upon the ever-agitated but healthful waters of truth, you will encounter storms."
2 From this, I reasoned that it would be naive to think that anyone standing for Truth and striving for spiritual growth could go through human experience without ever having to struggle. It is false pride or self-deception that would try to ignore or cover up a challenge and to label our pure, honest wrestling as a personal failing. There's only one Ego, one creator, and we need only the humility to yield to that fact so that we may receive the good that God has for us now.”
What MBE says
Praying to know the role and the divine requirements of church and the financial role and responsibilities our churches exhibit. (especially when I listen to the annual meeting financial report, or look at my CS Society’s bank account) Ugh an ongoing struggle for me. What do I need to learn, what do I need to know????? What is our church’s moral obligation (monetarily speaking?).
The importance of VISION
What is our church's moral obligation overall?
Could it be our church’s original vision to “reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing” from our Church Manual, p. 17?
“If Christian Science reiterates St. Paul’s teaching, we, as Christian Scientists,
To fulfill the Manual
Money is a tool - it is not the reason for doing something, but it can be the tool or provide the resources to get things done.
Money doesn’t make things happen—we do, and it all stems from our motives and our thoughts.
Money is a tool, not a reason or a cause for things to happen.
VISION is key. If you don’t know where you are going, no amount of money will help.
Right motives lead the way:
The question here may not be so much “What do we do with all this money?” but “What do we do with this pearl of great price?”
Dealing with injustice
People are being mean and manipulative, circulating rumors about me and trying to exclude me from things I should be included in. I guess my question is how to see error as unreality while also trying to bring about correction.
How can we see that Love governs everything here? And that first starts with you.
Love has never left your side.
How do you unsee the error and uproot it so that there is not anything to trigger or cause you to flashback to hurt?
Love corrects and governs man. It totally dissolves and destroys anything unlike God – and so there is nothing to go back to.
“Wait and love more for every hate, and fear no ill, since God is good and loss is gain.” (O gentle presence Hymn 207).
“The divine influence is ever-present in human consciousness.” Truth is already at work, neutralizing error and renovating human consciousness.
“Let Truth uncover and destroy error in God’s own way, and let human justice pattern the divine. Sin will receive its full penalty, both for what it is and for what it does. Justice marks the sinner, and teaches mortals not to remove the waymarks of God. To envy’s own hell, justice consigns the lie which, to advance itself, breaks God’s commandments.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 542:19)
And
“... error, when found out, is two-thirds destroyed, and the remaining third kills itself.”
(Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 210:5–7 error)
We can trust error to do its work, and we can trust error to do what it is capable of - to destroy itself.
You are not making anything happen, but you are gaining an understanding of God’s power. God’s love is already at work making things happen.
Our role is to love more deeply, patiently, refusing to see or claim evil as power and divesting it of any claim to a person, place or thing. We cannot lose anything good, as God is the source of all good.
Why did Jesus say “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do?
Jesus knew that the human scene had no claim on him. He knew God is Love and that “I and my Father are one.” We can follow his lead and know that the all-powerful, omniscient God and we are one.
You cannot be harmed or miss out on anything good that God gives. Claim your wholeness as a child of God (this is huge and important – gain that deep and profound fact of your inseparability with God), and it will be easier to claim that others are also children of God. The supremacy of this already existing fact thus denies error of any animation or foothold in the consciousness of an individual.
Why was Jesus silent before Pilot?
What was Jesus possibly knowing or thinking? Jesus knew who he was :
....and what he was supposed to do - fulfill prophecy.
And then the incredible statement from Hebrews 12:2:
Joy, as you may recall in Class, is defined in Hebrew as the understanding of the ultimate triumph of life. So Jesus knew of the outcome. He knew that Love never fails and Truth is always the victor. But he went through the trial, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, to show us that we, too, can overcome the world and feel that joy.
What example does this set for us? Are we to be silent in the face of false accusations?
We need the big picture here. To simply expect to be silent in the face of injustice is not the message. Like Jesus, we can know who we are as God’s children. We can trust God to tell us what to do. Whether to take action, speak up, or be silent. We are one with God.
Christ Jesus fulfilled prophecy and became the way of salvation.
But it is important to know that we do not need to go through the crucifixion, it has been done - but need to go forward learning the lessons Christ Jesus taught. His resurrection is our opportunity to be resurrected as well. Jesus had his purpose and we have ours - strengthened and clarified through Christ.
God so loved the world, that he gave us a way of salvation through Christ. Christ Jesus went through this for us, to show us a way of mastery over evil. And we can follow him “in that way” to demonstrate to some degree, what our Master did.
Why do we have to “do battle” in our mind?
“The suppositional warfare between truth and error is only the mental conflict between the ‘evidence of the spiritual senses’ and the ‘testimony of the material senses’, and this warfare between the Spirit and flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the understanding of divine Love.: - Science and Health, p. 288.
Question: She (Mrs. Eddy ) admits the ‘warfare’ ….assuming ‘evidence’ and ‘testimony’ seemingly giving power to each. Getting entangled in this battle seems to be the biggest hurdle to successful demonstrations. It is incredibly tiresome. People get weary of doing battle!
There has to be an easier way ... .because Spirit is Real and error, evil is a ‘liar’.
CONCLUSION
With all these probing questions - there is a simple and systematic answer: to turn toward the light. In every case, in every situation, and at all times. This poem captures that idea: See SLIDE 16
ASK SOON
By Godfrey John
There's one question
you've got to ask
yourself soon.
It's this:
"Do I want to find and feel
the fresh truth
of Christian Science
over again—to be absorbed
with this light--more than I want
to lose the dark
of pain or of grief, of crisis or hate?"
Ask soon.
I've seen
lives made fully free
out of the right
answer to that one.
(Please note that all questions from students and guests are indicated by bold typeface.)
What to do ( or how to think) about people who ask for prayerful support, and then never follow up to let you know how they are doing?
Great question as this one is really getting into the details of our relationship with our patients!
The short answer is: sometimes they will and sometimes they won’t. But it is up to you to set up the expectations of how often they call.
It is so very important - so very important - that when you give treatment you give it until you have no more doubt. You may not know what “angel you are entertaining unaware” but God’s word - understood - is moving away the clouds and is advancing human consciousness. You may hear from them - you may not. But trust the work.
A case in point: Recently, I got a call from an individual for help, and I recognized his name from some prayerful work we had done together a few years ago. I recall it had something to do with his relationship with his daughter. I did not hear from him for years. Then he shared that the healing work went beyond that, and he had been healed of addiction since our work together. He is grateful every day for that and wanted to let me know that.
But now for the longer answer: You set up your practice as you are inspired to do so.
Some governing aspects to the answer from the Manual :
- Formulas Forbidden. Sect. 9. No member shall use written formulas, nor permit his patients or pupils to use them, as auxiliaries to teaching Christian Science or for healing the sick. (Manual of The Mother Church, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 43:5–8)
- Practitioners and Patients. Sect. 22. Members of this Church shall hold in sacred confidence all private communications made to them by their patients; also such information as may come to them by reason of their relation of practitioner to patient. A failure to do this shall subject the offender to Church discipline.
A member of The Mother Church shall not, under pardonable circumstances, sue his patient for recovery of payment for said member’s practice, on penalty of discipline and liability to have his name removed from membership. Also he shall reasonably reduce his price in chronic cases of recovery, and in cases where he has not effected a cure. A Christian Scientist is a humanitarian; he is benevolent, forgiving, long-suffering, and seeks to overcome evil with good. (Manual of The Mother Church, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 46:12–3)
- Choice of patients is left to the wisdom of the practitioner, and Mrs. Eddy is not to be consulted on this subject. (Manual of The Mother Church, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 87:5)
Although each case takes on its own character, these are some things that I have found helpful in my work. Other practitioners will have the same metaphysical basis but may demonstrate this differently. Then, as you pray for the right solution, you can see for yourself what works best for you.
- I have no policy of how often a person is to call. I leave that up to them and their inspiration to call or not call.
- I do request them to call each day they want treatment. If I don’t hear from them that day ( unless other arrangements are made) I don’t give treatment. The patient is free to call when there is a need. If there isn’t a need there isn’t a call, and I don't give treatment.
- I have found that trusting more in God frees both patient and practitioner to let Love lead both of us to do the work and then trust that Truth is doing Her work ongoingly.
- I usually also don’t take cases that ask for prayer over a number of days (but there are pregnancy cases and other types of cases where this is wise).
- My expectation is that healing is happening every day and thought must move.
- I trust each treatment to do its work. There are times when an aggressive situation is so “made nothing” that the patient forgets that it is there.
- If I think the patient is not valuing or honoring the treatment, I treat that thought. Once I have felt a release in my thought, I trust it to God. In some cases, the situation self-corrects, and in other cases, I feel inspired to address the issue with the patient and make changes.
- I end my treatment with some type of closure, like:
“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
And then, when prayer turns to praise, you have completed the treatment.
I am still working on issues of disease /illness and have done so for years. How am I to pray and still expect healing about this?
Persistence wins the prize.
Spiritual growth is going on all the time.
Healing ( that revealing of God’s creation) is going on all the time.
Answer the question - which swing of the ax has felled the tree?
Note that there should be movement - a shifting of thought - throughout your prayerful work.
Christian Science treatment is the absolute acknowledgment of present perfection. It is not about human achievement but about the acknowledgment of the divine working in all things.
Keep praying! God’s word does not return unto us void! Movement, health, and purity are constantly making themselves known. Soul MUST be represented. Healing is always happening.
You know, there's an account in Mark of Jesus in a storm with the disciples. Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. His disciples basically kind of come and say, “Why aren’t you concerned about us? Don’t you see our storm?” And he basically says, “No, don’t you see my peace?” And he calms the storm [see Mark 4:36–41].
One writer explains the healing approach:
“The human body expresses the thoughts that govern the mind of the individual who identifies himself with it. If these thoughts are Christlike—in accord with the divine Mind, or God—the body will be healthy. But if they are from mortal mind—the diseased, discordant thoughts of false, mortal belief—the body will be liable to diseased, discordant conditions.
The way to solve any problem, therefore, is to pour into human thought the truths of real, God-created being—being that is wholly spiritual, reflecting the goodness of God, every whit whole, radiantly healthy, manifesting freedom and strength. “ ( Naomi Price “Solving Chronic Problems”)
Some issues I continue to pray about are:
Aging restrictions
Disruptive sleep
Aging restrictions
- Who says you are aging?
- Man is constantly rising higher and higher from a boundless basis. Where does that put old age?
- Material law is overwhelmed or swallowed up by the spiritual law of eternal Life.
- What does it mean to be immortal? Eternal?
- Chronic conditions - and there were two other questions from you all about this - deal with the idea that we live in a chronology of time. Yet, what does it mean to know that man is eternal, and immortal? We are timeless! Eternal! Not confined by matter.
- Fear of death is overcome - this fear is the source of disease
- “The cause of all so-called disease is mental, a mortal fear, a mistaken belief or conviction of the necessity and power of ill-health; also a fear that Mind is helpless to defend the life of man and incompetent to control it. ... It is latent belief in disease, as well as the fear of disease, which associates sickness with certain circumstances and causes the two to appear conjoined, ...(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 377)
- “The relinquishment of all faith in death and also of the fear of its sting would raise the standard of health and morals far beyond its present elevation, ….If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change in Science to the opposite belief that man dies. Life is the law of Soul, even the law of the spirit of Truth, and Soul is never without its representative. Man’s individual being can no more die nor disappear in unconsciousness than can Soul, for both are immortal. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 426:23–7)
- We are eternal, ageless.
How to deal with disruptive sleep?
We expect to be active in our work in the day - glorifying God - doing good works!
So that when night time comes “even the night will be light about you”!
A calling in the night is a calling for prayer and the highest rest is in holy work.
This Psalm helps explain this:
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”
(Psalms 139:7–14)
What is spiritual success in healing? And what about the elusive Comforter?
So—questions, issues. I have been watching Season 4 of the Chosen, having watched and enjoyed the previous seasons. If you are familiar with this series, I would invite your thoughts as to its overall value, and especially the quandary which has been framed in the current season with the killing of Thomas’ fiancée, Ramah, and Jesus’ seeming refusal to raise her from the dead—even while raising Lazarus later. The developer of this series has admitted that they intentionally created this dramatic element in the series to visualize these situations of seeming inconsistency in Jesus’ healing ministry and presumably shed light on them; in the case of the death of Ramah, there is clearly no historical fact being referenced.
Sidebar on The Chosen - note that the writing of The Chosen is coming out of a more evangelical theology - one that believes that God is manlike - Jesus is God - who may be willing to heal but He is not able (to handle oppressive issues) or that God may be able to heal but is not always willing ( as shown in the added stories that are not found in the Bible in the series The Chosen).
The added stories that are not in the Bible (James as an invalid, the death of Thomas’ fiance, and other stories not in the Bible) serve to answer questions raised by the theology of believing that God allows suffering.
Why is there suffering? Why is there sickness? How come I am not healed when I pray? These are all universal questions.
In Christian Science, we learn that God is both willing AND able and that as we walk closely with the teachings of Christ Jesus we are able to heal to a degree as he healed and taught others to heal.
Yet for me, it does raise the question of : why is he/she a successful healer and I am not? Why was he/she spared and my family member was not? Etc etc. It is an age-old question. Even if you have not watched this series, the question of how do we explain lack of spiritual success by one whom we may call faithful and how do we reconcile this lack of success with a loving God? I would define faithful here as someone who is active in their religion, who strives to apply what they have learned in church, who is a good person, an active church member, who shows up. Spiritual success in this context is probably more difficult to define, but I guess might be simply defined as the spiritual benefits of faith . I’m not just talking about physical healing, it could also be healing of the heart, a delivering of someone from the depths who seems to be constantly experiencing sorrow or hardship. For me, the spiritual benefits of faith would be discovering and maintaining peace in the midst of turmoil . I know what I have read in Christian Science about this type of question, but could you perhaps talk a bit about what some may call the elusive Comforter?
So — an elusive Comforter - who has moved? The Comforter aka the Holy Ghost aka DIvine Science aka the law of God, good – is not a variable human. The law of God, good, is omnipresent and omnipotent.
What is spiritual success?
- Unselfed love, readiness to heal, and persistence in the Truth “wins the prize”
- Are we growing spiritually? Are we seeing things more as God sees them as evidenced in more harmony in our lives, more love toward others and self, more health?
- Less love of the physical outcome and more understanding of what is real.
- Is God becoming clearer, nearer and dearer to you?
Be alert to judging on the basis of the material senses aka health snobbery (See Peel’s MBE: The Years of Trial about this.)
“.... there was a danger that Christian Scientists might come to believe that physical health of itself was a sign of grace, i.e., that a well body was more acceptable to God than a sick one. Her statement, “The healthy sinner is the hardened sinner,”
17 was enough to shatter such an assumption. Yet experience had shown her that some naturally robust Christian Scientists were strongly inclined toward a kind of health snobbery, believing themselves spiritually superior to other Christian Scientists (herself, for instance) who might labor at times under severe physical disabilities.
18 Kimball who, despite his extraordinarily active life, experienced occasional periods of acute suffering, wrote with some relief that Mrs. Eddy had told him “we would all be tested and that we might be glad that our temptations came in the way of sickness rather than sin.”19”
From “Struggles - opportunities to prove our oneness with God” ( See https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/qqqr1y7lzw?s=copylink) : “I felt I needed to get a better perspective on what it means to struggle. Was I thinking that a Christian Scientist would never need to struggle? Had I unwittingly fallen into some kind of health snobbery? Mary Baker Eddy writes, "If you launch your bark upon the ever-agitated but healthful waters of truth, you will encounter storms."
2 From this, I reasoned that it would be naive to think that anyone standing for Truth and striving for spiritual growth could go through human experience without ever having to struggle. It is false pride or self-deception that would try to ignore or cover up a challenge and to label our pure, honest wrestling as a personal failing. There's only one Ego, one creator, and we need only the humility to yield to that fact so that we may receive the good that God has for us now.”
What MBE says
- If pride, superstition, or any error prevents the honest recognition of benefits received, this will be a hindrance to the recovery of the sick and the success of the student. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 372:29)
- A moral question may hinder the recovery of the sick. Lurking error, lust, envy, revenge, malice, or hate will perpetuate or even create the belief in disease. Errors of all sorts tend in this direction. Your true course is to destroy the foe, and leave the field to God, Life, Truth, and Love, remembering that God and His ideas alone are real and harmonious.(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 419:1)
- Systematic teaching and the student’s spiritual growth and experience in practice are requisite for a thorough comprehension of Christian Science. Some individuals assimilate truth more readily than others, but any student, who adheres to the divine rules of Christian Science and imbibes the spirit of Christ,
- can demonstrate Christian Science,
- cast out error,
- heal the sick,
- and add continually to his store of spiritual understanding, potency, enlightenment, and success.(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 461:31)
- Strict adherence to the divine Principle and rules of the scientific method has secured the only success of the students of Christian Science.(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 456:5–7)
- If the student adheres strictly to the teachings of Christian Science and ventures not to break its rules, he cannot fail of success in healing. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 448:26–28)
- What is healing? More than just physical healing, it is the restoration of harmony- moral wholeness.
Praying to know the role and the divine requirements of church and the financial role and responsibilities our churches exhibit. (especially when I listen to the annual meeting financial report, or look at my CS Society’s bank account) Ugh an ongoing struggle for me. What do I need to learn, what do I need to know????? What is our church’s moral obligation (monetarily speaking?).
The importance of VISION
- Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.(Proverbs 29:18)
- When there is no vision, we have this: “ A great amount of time is consumed in talking nothing, doing nothing, and indecision as to what one should do. ...... Rushing around smartly is no proof of accomplishing much.” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 230:4–6, 12)
- “ The vision infinite to me grows clearer, / I touch the fringes of eternity.” (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 64:3)
What is our church's moral obligation overall?
Could it be our church’s original vision to “reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing” from our Church Manual, p. 17?
“If Christian Science reiterates St. Paul’s teaching, we, as Christian Scientists,
- should give to the world convincing proof of the validity of this scientific statement of being.
- Having perceived, in advance of others, this scientific fact, we owe to ourselves and to the world a struggle for its demonstration.” (Retrospection and Introspection, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 93:22)
To fulfill the Manual
- The discipline of each of its members ( the largest chapter in the Manual) that lead each of us TO BE HEALERS - to comfort such as mourn; to overcome sin;
- To ask “Shepherd, show me how to go o’er the hillside steep. How to gather, how to sow, how to feed my sheep?
- If we turn away from the poor, we are not ready to receive the reward of Him who blesses the poor. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 8:22–24)
- We can ask ourselves - have we done enough with those things we have enlisted to do and know about?
- Our individual practice as practitioners and nurses and our collective practice (teamwork as seen with CSPS, TMC and branch church work)
- Church services for the public
- Lectures addressing public topics condemning Christian Science
- Reading Rooms that are well-located and that sell and exhibit literature
- Sunday Schools that serve the community’s children (ensure the future of CS and the well-being and safety of children in the community)
- Other Manual based activity: CS nursing
- Other TMC activity: The Chaplaincy
- Other CS activities: camps and schools, Christian Science nursing facilities, Christian Science philanthropy efforts
- And where financial obligations are concerned, we are instructed in the Manual to work with “ wisdom, economy, and brotherly love”
Money is a tool - it is not the reason for doing something, but it can be the tool or provide the resources to get things done.
Money doesn’t make things happen—we do, and it all stems from our motives and our thoughts.
Money is a tool, not a reason or a cause for things to happen.
VISION is key. If you don’t know where you are going, no amount of money will help.
Right motives lead the way:
- The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less difficult when she has the high goal always before her thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps in endeavoring to reach it. When the destination is desirable, expectation speeds our progress. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 426:5–9)
- Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action. ... Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept. Patience must “have her perfect work.”(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 454:19–21, 22)
The question here may not be so much “What do we do with all this money?” but “What do we do with this pearl of great price?”
Dealing with injustice
People are being mean and manipulative, circulating rumors about me and trying to exclude me from things I should be included in. I guess my question is how to see error as unreality while also trying to bring about correction.
How can we see that Love governs everything here? And that first starts with you.
Love has never left your side.
How do you unsee the error and uproot it so that there is not anything to trigger or cause you to flashback to hurt?
Love corrects and governs man. It totally dissolves and destroys anything unlike God – and so there is nothing to go back to.
“Wait and love more for every hate, and fear no ill, since God is good and loss is gain.” (O gentle presence Hymn 207).
“The divine influence is ever-present in human consciousness.” Truth is already at work, neutralizing error and renovating human consciousness.
“Let Truth uncover and destroy error in God’s own way, and let human justice pattern the divine. Sin will receive its full penalty, both for what it is and for what it does. Justice marks the sinner, and teaches mortals not to remove the waymarks of God. To envy’s own hell, justice consigns the lie which, to advance itself, breaks God’s commandments.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 542:19)
And
“... error, when found out, is two-thirds destroyed, and the remaining third kills itself.”
(Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 210:5–7 error)
We can trust error to do its work, and we can trust error to do what it is capable of - to destroy itself.
You are not making anything happen, but you are gaining an understanding of God’s power. God’s love is already at work making things happen.
Our role is to love more deeply, patiently, refusing to see or claim evil as power and divesting it of any claim to a person, place or thing. We cannot lose anything good, as God is the source of all good.
Why did Jesus say “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do?
Jesus knew that the human scene had no claim on him. He knew God is Love and that “I and my Father are one.” We can follow his lead and know that the all-powerful, omniscient God and we are one.
You cannot be harmed or miss out on anything good that God gives. Claim your wholeness as a child of God (this is huge and important – gain that deep and profound fact of your inseparability with God), and it will be easier to claim that others are also children of God. The supremacy of this already existing fact thus denies error of any animation or foothold in the consciousness of an individual.
Why was Jesus silent before Pilot?
What was Jesus possibly knowing or thinking? Jesus knew who he was :
- “... for I know whence I came, and whither I go; ...(John 8:14)
....and what he was supposed to do - fulfill prophecy.
- For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:16, 17)
And then the incredible statement from Hebrews 12:2:
- “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Joy, as you may recall in Class, is defined in Hebrew as the understanding of the ultimate triumph of life. So Jesus knew of the outcome. He knew that Love never fails and Truth is always the victor. But he went through the trial, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, to show us that we, too, can overcome the world and feel that joy.
- “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
- “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. ...These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” (John 14:27; 15:11)
What example does this set for us? Are we to be silent in the face of false accusations?
We need the big picture here. To simply expect to be silent in the face of injustice is not the message. Like Jesus, we can know who we are as God’s children. We can trust God to tell us what to do. Whether to take action, speak up, or be silent. We are one with God.
- “But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. ...... The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. (John 5:17, 19 The)
Christ Jesus fulfilled prophecy and became the way of salvation.
But it is important to know that we do not need to go through the crucifixion, it has been done - but need to go forward learning the lessons Christ Jesus taught. His resurrection is our opportunity to be resurrected as well. Jesus had his purpose and we have ours - strengthened and clarified through Christ.
God so loved the world, that he gave us a way of salvation through Christ. Christ Jesus went through this for us, to show us a way of mastery over evil. And we can follow him “in that way” to demonstrate to some degree, what our Master did.
Why do we have to “do battle” in our mind?
“The suppositional warfare between truth and error is only the mental conflict between the ‘evidence of the spiritual senses’ and the ‘testimony of the material senses’, and this warfare between the Spirit and flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the understanding of divine Love.: - Science and Health, p. 288.
Question: She (Mrs. Eddy ) admits the ‘warfare’ ….assuming ‘evidence’ and ‘testimony’ seemingly giving power to each. Getting entangled in this battle seems to be the biggest hurdle to successful demonstrations. It is incredibly tiresome. People get weary of doing battle!
There has to be an easier way ... .because Spirit is Real and error, evil is a ‘liar’.
- Where is the battle? Between the Spirit and the flesh
- ... Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.(II Chronicles 20:15 Thus)
- You don’t have to be in the battle. When we feel we have a personal responsibility to overcome the Goliath of evil - it can be tiresome and wearying.
- Instead, ¶ Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. ¶ Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. (Proverbs 3:5–8)
- Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.
- Your job is to know the Truth
- Truth’s job is to set you free.
- Practice this.
CONCLUSION
With all these probing questions - there is a simple and systematic answer: to turn toward the light. In every case, in every situation, and at all times. This poem captures that idea: See SLIDE 16
ASK SOON
By Godfrey John
There's one question
you've got to ask
yourself soon.
It's this:
"Do I want to find and feel
the fresh truth
of Christian Science
over again—to be absorbed
with this light--more than I want
to lose the dark
of pain or of grief, of crisis or hate?"
Ask soon.
I've seen
lives made fully free
out of the right
answer to that one.