Our two weeks' consideration of the topic yielded agreement on this much: Divine Science (the actuality and laws of God's universe) has always existed. It underlies all appearances as well as the attempts to understand them. What we call Christian Science is a particularly vivid statement of divine Science as presented by Mary Baker Eddy. Individual members had different "takes" on how Christian Science was unique, or not.

A couple of them felt it's the second coming of Christ. Others allowed that it's a scientific unfoldment of what Jesus and the prophets practiced, particularly suited for our time.

One member argued that all religions reflect the Science to some degree or there'd be nothing at all going on there. He described his relish in attending the services and rituals of other religions (or theatrical, sports and political events) where he can easily discern scientific structures and facts looming behind the scene.

Christian Science is based on practice more than profession. It demands demonstration or scientific healing. Some members lamented that Virginia Harris in her two appearances on the Larry King Show did not allude to the sharp difference between faith cures and healing based on Christian Science understanding and treatment. A member read to us from Mrs. Eddy's article on Faith Cures in Retrospection and Introspection, pp. 54-55. Any attempt to make us seem as mild as Methodists is surely undercut by the wildly risky prospect of " just praying' when something serious comes up.

A member who is studying some Clarence Steves lectures reported what this Teacher felt Christian Science's two major contributions to world religious thought were:

1) The motherhood of God. 

2) "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all." (Science and Health, p. 468:9)

These basic healing tools can be put to work in a variety of circumstances.

Several members are particularly impressed with the way Christian Science quickly turns attention from appearances and effects healing based on the facts of being. Here are some recent healings:

1) A member's plane was circling Chicago because of bad weather and an outage in the guidance system. As he opened to reality in Science, he saw everyone concerned as divine idea, therefore completely safe and already "there" — indeed everywhere, since divine ideas have no limits; his plane quickly landed.

2) Later he started to develop a cold and chest congestion. Bad air on the plane no doubt! Again he left the mortal basis of belief and united with divine Mind to see everyone and everything as divine idea. He could find no bad air in Heaven; so he dropped the whole thing and was well.

3) On the way to the meeting a member had a run-in with a surly waiter. She was up for a good tussle but thought she'd try a bit of Science and see what happened. As she countermanded appearances and insisted on seeing his divinity, the situation improved immediately and they actually ended up joking and having a good time together.

A member who attended his Association meeting during our period on this topic shared some insights gained there. He could now see that the human concept is firmly anchored in the first chapter of Genesis — he had previously thought it strictly a Genesis II kind of thing. Much time at Association was spent studying pages 505:7 through 507: 10 of Science and Health, along with 585: 7-8 and 572: 19-12. Our work in Science is to keep the human concept within the divine grasp and not let it deteriorate into mere mortality. We live in the Resurrection, the intermediate space, where the human and divine are forged as one. We should work absolutely but must live relatively. Our newest member, just getting to know Science, saw this as confirming his feeling that our whole spiritual life is in and out from the heart.

Some members attended a meeting sponsored by the Mother Church to encourage healing. The speaker asked what impediments might stand in the way of sharing Christian Science and healing through its means. Many people stood up; some of the problems mentioned were lack of confidence, being thought a fool, being too busy. Each point was exhaustively discussed. Finally a woman said she felt racism played a role. She was quickly seated confirming her fears exactly. One of our members said he felt homophobia stood in the way of effective practice and healing. The speaker said, "Now, now, let's remember what we're here to talk about. Next!" Dialogue shriveled and the speaker was able to enjoy another half hour of his own maxims without interruption.

We spent some time on how Christian Science interacts with world thought. Here are the news stories we looked at.

1) Medical researchers are devising a new way to handle viruses and germs. Previously they hit them with drugs that sought to kill them off. Some would survive — these were the hardiest of the lot and formed the base for a whole new drug resistant strain. Scientists are now working to sedate or calm down the bugs so that they and their hosts, humans and other animals, can coexist peacefully together. This is reminiscent of Isaiah's vision at 11: 6-9 which includes this: "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." The correlative passage from Science and Health is p. 514: 19-30 which includes this statement: "All of God's creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible."

2) One-time Oscar winners live 3.9 years longer than do non-Oscar winners. Those who win twice live 6 years longer. Psychiatrists speculate the difference is because of the upsurge in self-esteem among the winners. We wondered how much real self-esteem we'd have if we fully understood and practiced the fact that we and all others are the full reflection of God.

3) The healing of homosexuality by "reparative therapy" hit us as doubtful, but we were unwilling to let orientation be based solely on genes or human upbringing. Surely it's a spiritual issue. Let one's feelings and activity flow from God, not human will. Who can say what the results of that might look like? "Every Christian Scientist, every conscientious teacher of the Science of Mind-healing, knows that human will is not Christian Science, and he must recognize this in order to defend himself from the influence of human will...Show your student that mental malpractice tends to blast moral sense, health, and the human life." (Science and Health, p. 451:19-23, 31-32)

In response to a request from the field, we'll look at Loneliness next week.