The new heart

Will artificial hearts be the coming thing? Will the new man-made heart eventually be perfected and provide a sure remedy for heart disease? These are interesting questions. But perhaps an even more fundamental and significant question is: Are we dependent on the action of unintelligent matter for our well-being, or is there a more certain and lasting source of harmony? The teachings of Christianity show us that we can trust our creator, God, to sustain us, and that permanent well-being can really only be found in an understanding of Him.

How clearly Christ Jesus must have understood man's spiritual nature and relationship to God! The Scriptures tell of the dead raised; of leprosy, a dreaded disease of the time, instantly healed; of sight restored. We also read in the Gospels that lameness, paralysis, insanity, and ''divers diseases'' were healed. Moreover, the understanding of God that underlay these healings is still available to be practiced today.

Jesus brought mankind the priceless revelation of God as a loving Father. In all his works the Master demonstrated with compassion and tenderness the divine Love that is the true source and basis of health. And this Love is fully capable of caring for our needs.

Present-day sufferers from heart disease might well heed his counsel: ''Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'' n1

n1 John 14:27

The Scriptures also tell us: ''There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.'' n2 Even the most minute understanding that God is Love aids in destroying the fear that He could either cause or condone disease.

I John 4:18

Fear, an underlying cause of all disease, is a definite factor in cases of heart trouble. To believe that an organ in the chest is a determiner of life and death is indeed frightening. It's no wonder, then, that a search is on for a more dependable heart.

But there is a better way. As we prayerfully realize that a loving God could not cause sickness, pain, or fear, and that man is not truly subservient to matter, we begin to build a foundation of spiritual understanding that can defeat disease and bring to light our God-given health and harmony.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes: ''Consciousness constructs a better body when faith in matter has been conquered. Correct material belief by spiritual understanding, and Spirit will form you anew. You will never fear again except to offend God, and you will never believe that heart or any portion of the body can destroy you.'' n3

n3 Science and Health with key to the Scriptures p. 425

Never fear again! Isn't it worth it to gain an understanding of God? Isn't it worth the effort to conquer our faith in matter and to be willing to learn more of our true identity as created and maintained by Spirit?

If we do not conquer faith in matter, we will increasingly look to replacing physical organs with artificial ones. And it may not be too fantastic to speculate that the day could come when a human being could be completely made up of man-made inventions. Then where and what is man? He isn't, and never really was, a fleshly, destructible being. Man's actual selfhood is the whole and indestructible image of God, of perfect Spirit.

So, if you are suffering from the belief that you have or may have a faulty heart, there is no need to wait for modern science to attempt to improve on God's creation. You can turn to God in prayer, and humbly yield to His law of good, realizing that matter has no power to govern man. You can acknowledge your perfect, Christlike identity and help bring that identity to light by living in harmony with it, by expressing love and purity as exemplified by Jesus. Such deep Christian prayer transforms - and heals. DAILY BIBLE VERSE We are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: . . . We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. II Corinthians, 5:6, 8