A Certain Science
I WAS recently involved in an extensive project that required our taking down, or boxing in, every last vestige of a particular material used in the construction of a building. The material has been deemed to be dangerous to health.
It occurred to me that the same science that had originally discovered the material and declared it to be a boon to mankind was now pronouncing it hazardous. As I thought about this, I realized how hungry humanity must be for a science that's certain, a science that never needs to reassess a conclusion because its every pronouncement is accurate and enduring.
Does that sound too good to be true? Well, there is such a thing! It's a certain Science that is also a sure theology and a perfect medicine. It is the Science of Christ, and it is as unwavering and changeless as its source, God. When the Science of Christ declares something to be good, it is good--forever! And the basic truths of this certain Science are that God is good and is All. Man--as the Bible declares--is God's image and likeness and reflects God's invariable goodness. You, and I, and all are that spiritual man, the expression of spiritual goodness.
A first step in gaining an understanding of this Science is ensuring one has access to the right textbooks. These are the Holy Scriptures and a book that has the remarkable role of illuminating the Bible's spiritual meaning. This book is called Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and was written by the Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. It contains a full statement of the Science that is in the Bible--especially as shown by Christ Jesus' healing mission--and it helps us to discern the Bible's underlying spiritual meaning.
Next we can identify the ``laboratory'' in which to test out the rules of the Christ Science. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes of Christ Jesus: ``Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe. He plunged beneath the material surface of things, and found the spiritual cause'' (p. 313). The Saviour did this everywhere, wherever he happened to be at the time! The Master's ``laboratory'' was the life in which he demonstrated the validity of his knowledge by proving its ability to heal sickness, reform sinners, and even to raise the dead. We, too, can identify our own lives--our homes, our workplaces, our communities, and the world that we hear about in the news--as the laboratory for our efforts to follow the Master and prayerfully prove the certain Science of invariable good as the truth for all.
Having our textbooks at hand, and taking opportunities to work scientifically in the laboratory of our lives, we may feel that the next steps don't sound very scientific to our human sense of science, but they are essential to our success! These steps include repentance, reformation, and spiritual regeneration. The misguided presumption that science is concerned only with understanding matter and material laws, rather than with discerning divine Spirit, God, and His underlying and overriding spiritual laws, would tarnish such religious terms with a sense of haphazardness. But the spiritual seeker finds an orderly need for repentance, leading to a definite divine demand for mental reformation, culminating in a specific result of spiritual regeneration. These are exact steps that come to light through prayer and bring the predictable results of healing.
Those yearning for a certain Science need not feel confounded. It does exist. It's freely available. And it is practical and reliable. What's more, it truly is the salvation of the world in a way that physical science--no matter how sincere the intentions of those applying it--cannot be, because, as the prophet Jonah declares in the Bible, ``Salvation is of the Lord'' (2:9).
