The Lost Element of Healing

The Lost Element of Healing
by Julie Trevor-Roberts, CS

Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, author of the best selling book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, publisher of The Christian Science Sentinel magazine, The Christian Science Journal magazine, Der Herald of Christian Science magazine, and founder of The Christian Science Monitor newspaper, also founded a church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist. This church was “designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing.” (Church Manual p17).

As a member of this church, I am one among thousands who are in communities just like yours who have discovered the “lost element of healing” and help bring this healing to families, local communities and to the world.

What is the “lost element of healing”? It is the Science of Christianity, also known as Christian Science. Mary Baker Eddy discovered there were divine laws behind the way Christ Jesus healed. Jesus says in John 14:12 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.”

Right there he’s telling us, all of us, that if we believe in Christ Jesus we can not only do what he did, but even greater things. The question is how. How can we do the healing that Christ Jesus did?

Mrs. Eddy explains the Science of Christianity in her best-selling book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. It’s a book that has been studied by millions of people all around the globe for over a century. The book is 700 pages filled with healing truths about God and your true identity as the image and likeness of God (which of course we learn in Genesis 1).

For me, I’ve always been a “Cliffs Notes” kind of girl. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with Cliffs Notes, they are available in bookstores and are a series of booklets. In high school we would be assigned to read various works of literature. I would go to the book store and get the Cliffs Notes version of the required reading and study it because it was a summary of the book I was supposed to be reading. It explained the given text in easy to understand summaries.)

One day I prayed to God to give me the “Cliffs Notes” version of Science and Health. My desire was to know the basic, simple, easy to understand summary of this Science. Within minutes the answer came. It came in the form of four statements. Two were from the Bible and two were from Mary Baker Eddy’s writings.

First: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32
Second: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5
Third: “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.” Science and Health 476:32
Fourth: “Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. It is plain that nothing can be added to the mind already full.” My 210:2

Now, let me expand a bit. The first one talks about knowing the truth and it will make you free. The question is – what is the truth? The truth is what God knows. Mrs Eddy explains that Truth is a synonym for God. So, the more we know about God, the more we will be free. As God’s image, the more we know about God, it naturally means we will know more about our true identity as His reflection.

The second statement talks about having the mind which was in Christ Jesus. In other words it says to me “Think the way Christ Jesus thinks”. Oh! I get it! Think the way Jesus thinks. To get a better idea of the way Christ Jesus thinks, we can study the Sermon on the Mount. He talks about forgiving, not judging, not holding grudges, etc. If we’re not thinking along those negative lines, then we are thinking in terms of forgiveness, unconditional love. We are seeing ourselves and our fellow beings as the image and likeness of God.

The third statement talks about how we see our fellow man versus the way Jesus saw our fellow man. We see “sinning mortal man” and Jesus “saw God’s own likeness”. And “this correct view of man healed the sick.” What does it mean to see sinning mortal man? Well, don’t we end up going around holding grudges, being upset by other people’s actions, becoming irritated at things, thinking and talking about illnesses?

That’s not how Jesus saw us. He knew we were “God’s own likeness.” Genesis 1:27 tells us “So God created man in his own image.” Well, if we’re Gods image, we can only have those spiritual, God-like qualities such as harmony, wisdom, unconditional love, strength, honesty, integrity, joy, etc. And not just a little bit of these qualities here or there. Isn’t God unlimited? Isn’t God infinite? Then we, as His reflection, automatically have an unlimited amount of each and every good and wonderful quality! Woo hoo!!! That’s exciting! So, it’s our job to not only see ourselves this way, but to also know it’s true for our family, our neighbors and the entire universe.

The fourth statement talks about keeping our mind so filled with Truth and Love. Then, what happens when we do that? Eddy says “sin, disease, and death cannot enter them.” Wow. Wouldn’t you like those things to stay out of your thinking? Keeping my mind so filled with Truth and Love is easy when I’m truly living by Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7 in the Bible.

All four statements come down to knowing the Truth, thinking the way Christ Jesus thinks, knowing who God really is and who we are as His image and likeness. Knowing this enables me to be a better healer, a better Christian, a better citizen. This works not only for physical healings, but brings healing to all areas of your life. See how you too can take part in the “lost element of healing” and bring peace and freedom to the world. As each one of us takes a stand to know the Truth and behold that in our fellow man, the entire human experience will be lifted up to a more spiritual, peaceful existence.