True Health Care
NATIONAL health care seems to have become the primary concern of the general public as well as of the national government. The search for effective, affordable health care for all has, for the most part, been based upon a single approach--namely, the use of material medical means only. Are there other viable approaches?
A positive answer to that question stems from the fact that countless individuals over the past one hundred or more years have attained lasting health through their acquired understanding of the meaning of the presence of God in their lives. This freedom from disease has come from their study and application of the spiritual truths explained in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.
Mrs. Eddy, prior to her discovery of Christian Science, had spent decades in poor health but had been, for many years, a devoted student of the Bible. In 1866 she was healed, following a severe accident, by a spiritual insight she gained while reading in the Bible an account of a healing performed by Christ Jesus. She had made a discovery based upon the truths contained in the Bible, and she was determined to investigate it.
She describes this investigation in Science and Health: ``For three years after my discovery, I sought the solution of this problem of Mind-healing, searched the Scriptures and read little else, kept aloof from society, and devoted time and energies to discovering a positive rule. The search was sweet, calm, and buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing. I knew the Principle of all harmonious Mind-action to be God, and that cures were produced in primitive Christian healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and demonstration'' (p. 109). As a result of this scientific discovery, Mrs. Eddy brought to mankind a wholly spiritual approach to the care of the human race.
One might ask, ``Is reliance on Biblical truths practical in today's world?'' I can only offer as proof my own experience.
Some sixty years ago, as a high-school student plagued from childhood with epileptic seizures, I was informed by physicians that they had no cure for this malady. The only hope they could offer was that if I were to submit to a rigid diet, I might live a half-normal life.
At this point someone suggested spiritual treatment by a Christian Science practitioner, and the suggestion was accepted despite my knowing very little about Christian Science. Two very important spiritual truths were brought to my attention by the practitioner. First, I was made aware of the presence of God through the words of the ninety-first Psalm, which speaks of the deep, loving care that God has for each of His children. Second, I learned that this close relationship stems from man's real identity as a spiritual idea created by God in His own image and likeness-- as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis, verse 27.
A complete healing took place immediately, and the disorder has never recurred. The spiritual understanding of man's eternal coexistence with God, gained from that initial healing and strengthened by continued study and practice of Christian Science, has, over the years, provided much additional proof of the fact that man truly does ``live, and move, and have [his] being'' in God, as we read in the Bible in Acts (17:28). Far from ``half normal,'' my life has been fully normal and active. This lifetime of reliance upon God, which I learned through Christian Science, has proved to be a wonderful means of gaining and maintaining well-being. I heartily recommend it!
