 Through honest talk about the questions skeptics ask, this one hour lecture tackles the essentials of Christian Science – its theology, its Christianity and its role in healing – giving an insider’s look at Christian Science treatment through prayer for physical cure. For those who have resisted a serious consideration of Christian Science, this lecture gives a clear, logical and compelling response to the following questions:
This lecture also presents the life of Mary Baker Eddy and her path of discovery, bringing out events in her early medical practice and some of her first healings through prayer that paved her way to finding the eternal laws of Christ healing practiced by Bible patriarchs, prophets, Christ Jesus, early Christians and many today. Those congregations interested in sponsoring this lecture may feel free to be in touch. I still have three possible openings in the schedule before the end of the lecture year on June 30, 2014. Not a subscriber and want to be?
It's easy! Just sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS  March and April have been full of terrific lectures, thoughtful audiences, and interesting venues. I expect May to bring more of the same. Will I see you? Check out the list of upcoming events scheduled. If you or someone you know will be in the area, I would love to meet you. "Angry no more" will be in Barnstaple, Keighley and Peterborough, all in the UK. It will also be given in Paris in French. "Finding God" will be given in Hoylake, UK. "Unending life within your reach" will be given in Oxted, UK Please see details below for times and venues.  8 May 2014 at 7:30pm ANGRY NO MORE Christian Science Society 115 Boutport St Barnstaple, Devon England United Kingdom 10 May 2014 at 7:00pm FINDING GOD Hoylake Parade Community Center 31 Hoyle Rd Hoylake, Wirral England United Kingdom 11 May 2014 at 3:00pm ANGRY NO MORE Central Hall Alice St Keighley, West Yorkshire England United Kingdom 12 May 2014 at 8:00pm UNENDING LIFE WITHIN YOUR REACH First Church of Christ, Scientist Church Lane Oxted, Surrey England United Kingdom 13 May 2014 at 7:30pm ANGRY NO MORE Great Northern Hotel Station Approach Peterborough England United Kingdom 18 May 2014 at 14:30 PLUS JAMAIS EN COLERE Première Eglise du Christ, Scientiste 36, boulevard Saint-Jacques Paris France Not a subscriber and want to be?
It's easy! Just sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS  Christian Science treatment is systematic and original prayer. When I say original I mean prayer treatment doesn’t involve auto-pilot repeating of phrases or memorized lines. While every treatment includes certain basic elements, it doesn’t follow a formula of thinking certain thoughts for certain symptoms. The person praying doesn’t have to have any particular expertise in certain problems. The healing Christ is the expert in every case. In giving Christian Science treatment, the practitioner engages with the Christ, with God’s self-revealing power that is ever-present to heal. Jesus expressed this Christ-power to such a degree that his name is forever linked with it. It was the Christ that healed Jesus cases, and it is the same Christ, or God-power, that heals through prayer today. Here are the elements of Christian Science treatment: 
I could elaborate more, but that would involve in-depth teaching beyond the scope of a simple blog. So this is more of a quick overview of the basic elements of Christian Science treatment. It may seem like all that could or would take some time – and it often does. But sometimes the points are covered very quickly, almost simultaneously, depending on the case. Some of Christ Jesus’ healings occurred over a period of time and others immediately. His teachings indicate that he was nearly always engaged in thinking profoundly on, teaching, or demonstrating, one or more of these points of treatment. When it comes to healing prayer, Mary Baker Eddy, discoverer of the Science of Christ-healing that Jesus practiced, debunked blind belief as an aid to healing. She explains, “It is neither Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief.”(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,12) Rather the Christian Science healer seeks in his prayers “the human understanding of the divine healing Principle as manifested in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and conscientious protests of Truth, - of man’s likeness to God and of man’s unity with Truth and Love.”(ibid) Jesus’ theology of the perfection and spirituality of man as the likeness to perfect Spirit who is God, and of man as inseparable from Truth and Love, heals. Health is the outward evidence of an inner truth. Prayer in Christian Science doesn’t change reality. It involves a thorough examination of the divine Truth that is God, of God’s omnipresence and of man's pure likeness to his Maker, revealing the sole reality and permanence of health in God’s creation. This is a preview of a part of a new lecture under development. Stay tuned for news about when/where it will be available. Not a subscriber and want to be?
It's easy! Just sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS  Here you will find links to two recent recordings of a lecture given in Copenhagen, in April. The first is in English, the second is a Danish reading of the translation of the same lecture. Both recordings are available thanks to the members of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Copenhagen. I hope you enjoy and share the links. Not a subscriber and want to be?
It's easy! Just sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS  A lecture I gave in Minneapolis on March 13, 2014 is available online for another two, or so, months. It is being made available to you thanks to Third Church of Christ, Scientist, Minneapolis. Not a subscriber and want to be?
It's easy! Just sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS  Recently in Denmark, a woman attending my lecture shared that, as a result of her study and prayers in Christian Science, she no longer needs glasses. I invited her to write her story for this blog. Here find the experience of Eva Hansen, in her own words. Dear Michelle, I give you my healing. I want to get it out – but very important is to praise God. About ten years ago I had an operation by an ophthalmologist for cararact. After about four months I was supposed to get new glasses. They were very expensive. And could be used for normal sight and for reading, and could be worn all day. A few year later I dropped them and took them to my optician, who fixed them. So they looked fine. I was then reading lots of Christian Science literature, and loved this religion. Every day I read a Danish translation of Irving C. Tomlinson´s remarks on “Perfection”. The author wrote that when one understands perfection, the day will come when he can put his glasses aside. They will be unnecessary. A few years later I no longer used glasses, nor do I today. One day I had to call a Christian Science practitioner because it seemed a bit hard to see without glasses. The same day, everything was fine. In Matthew´s Gospel we read: “Be ye therefor perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (5:48) I am very grateful not to have to use glasses any more. When I used glasses and I was sewing I could not thread a yarn in a needle. But I can now. Those nice glasses got thrown out with unneeded trash. I am also very grateful for guidance in finding my new apartment, and for a very harmonious move. Eva Hansen, Denmark. Thank you for sharing your story with us, Eva. I am certain it will resonate with, and bless, many. Not a subscriber and want to be?
It's easy! Just sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS  Healers, regardless of their method of practice, must be so alert that nothing in their thoughts or in the way that they conduct their lives would interfere with the patient’s ability to benefit from their efforts to help. This is as essential to the practice of medicine as it is to the practice of Christian Science. The discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, didn’t see her discovery as a system in competition with medical science. She saw it as a fresh start from a better premise – an old/new advancement beyond the finite reasoning from a material viewpoint that man is a strictly physical entity with inherent limitations and unavoidable problems. That is not to say that she relegated the medical faculty to the category of charlatans, rather, she had great respect for the motives and aspirations of what she called “the higher class of physicians”. She had experienced firsthand what a love for humanity and a desire to relieve suffering could do for mankind. She once wrote, “I should have more faith in an honest drugging-doctor, one who abides by his statements and works upon as high a basis as he understands, healing me, than I could or would have in a smooth-tongued hypocrite or mental malpractitioner.” (Miscellaneous Writings, 19) She placed a high value on the morality and spirituality of the healer, something she learned through her own medical practice of homeopathy before discovering Christian Science. A woman came into Mrs. Eddy’s homeopathic practice with a case of what was then called dropsy and today would likely be called edema due to congestive heart failure. The woman had been unsuccessfully treated by another homeopath, whose dosage of medicine caused an apparent bad reaction. Mrs. Eddy took the case and treated according to her understanding of proper dosage, and the woman steadily improved. Mrs. Eddy later discovered that, in fact, her prescription was identical to that of the prior physician – the type and dosage that under his care produced horrible side effects and under her care resulted in marked improvement.  Why were the outcomes different? Later, Mrs. Eddy noted that she was always praying to God to keep her from sin, and to guide her on her cases. We can rightly deduce that the thought and prayers of the physician – that is the morality and spirituality of a healer – is an active ingredient in healing. In the Christian Science Practice chapter of her textbook on Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy wrote, “If the Scientist has enough Christly affection to win his own pardon, … then he is Christian enough to practice scientifically. If hypocrisy, stolidity, inhumanity or vice finds its way into the chambers of disease through the would-be healer, it would , if it were possible, convert into a den of thieves the temple of the Holy Ghost, - the patient’s spiritual power to resuscitate himself.” (p. 365) Healers have to be so alert that their thought and lives do not project negative influences through the open door of a patient’s thinking and experience. Healers can and should pray daily to be kept from fear, discouragement, fatigue, distraction, vice, in order to give their patients the best possible care. Psalm 25 in the Common English Bible offers a healer's prayer: I offer my life to you, Lord. My God, I trust you. Please don’t let me be put to shame!...Make your ways known to me, Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth—teach it to me—because you are the God who saves me. I put my hope in you all day long. Not a subscriber and want to be?
It's easy! Just sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS  I have a new Daily Lift 2-minute podcast out today - An oil well. It is based on a blog post from 2011. It focuses on the divine source of unlimited supply for our needs. You might like to have a listen and check out the fuller post. Last month's Daily Lift was You are being followed. This one, too, was based on a blog post - this time from 2012. It reminds us that goodness and mercy follow us like a tail follows a cat. Enjoy and let yourself feel the lift! Not a subscriber and want to be?
It's easy! Just sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS  My recent lecture in Copenhagen (Saturday, 5 April) was video-recorded. A link to the lecture in Danish and in English should be available soon. The rest of the month is full, full, full of speaking invitations. If you are in the area, I hope to see you. If you do come, please don't hide in the crowd. Come up afterward and say Hi. Here are my remaining April dates. Each title links back to my LECTURES page which gives a full description of the topics to be addressed: TROUVER DIEU, C'EST RETROUVER LA SANTÉ 11 Apr 2014 at 8:00pm Quality Hotel, 80, rue Emile Garet, Pau, France Sponsored by 1st Church of Christ, Scientist, Pau FINDING GOD 22 Apr 2014 at 7:30pm Edinburgh Central Youth Hostel, 9 Haddington Place, Edinburgh Scotland UK Sponsored by 1st Church of Christ, Scientist, Edinburgh FINDING GOD 24 Apr 2014 at 7:30pm Town Hall Cheltenham, Imperial Square, Cheltenham England UK 1st Church of Christ, Scientist, Cheltenham FINDING GOD 26 Apr 2014 at 2:00pm FirstSite, Lewis Gardens, High St, Colchester England UK Christian Science Society, Colchester UNENDING LIFE WITHIN YOUR REACH 27 Apr 2014 at 3:00pm Sponsored by and held at First Church of Christ, Scientist in Stoneygate Preston England UK ANGRY NO MORE 28 Apr 2014 at 7:30pm Altrincham Town Hall, Market St, Altrincham England UK Sponsored by 1st Church of Christ, Scientist, Altrincham ANGRY NO MORE 29 Apr 2014 at 12:30pm Christian Science Reading Room, Unit 4 The Wharf, Bridge St, Birmingham England UK Sponsored by 2nd Church of Christ, Scientist, Birmingham ANGRY NO MORE 29 Apr 2014 at 7:30pm Midlands Art Centre, Cannon Hill Park, 2 Russell Rd, Moseley, Birmingham England UK Sponsored by 2nd Church of Christ, Scientist, Birmingham Not a subscriber and want to be?
It's easy! Just sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS 4/2/2014 What you know for sure In Oprah Magazine, my favorite monthly feature is “What I know for sure.” Here Oprah Winfrey lets the reader see what has meaning to her, what moves her to action. I think that until each of us connects with what we know for sure, we haven’t found our truth - the reality, the substance and the honest core of who we are. Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 Christian Science takes the next step of explaining and defining this truth as the ultimate, as God Himself. To be in touch with God, - to know for sure what is Truth - frees from the push and pull of simple belief. To know Truth as Spirit, for example, dissolves the thoughts about, fears of and obsessions with matter, Spirit’s opposite. To know Truth as the divine Principle of life leads to a bigger life where limitation, sin, sickness and death fall away. Truth is true and right, always victorious over a lie. Lies fall by their own weight before Truth. Truth is permanent. Lies are temporary. One of my favorite quotes along these lines is: “Man survives finite, mortal definitions of himself, according to the law of “the survival of the fittest.” EDDY, NO AND YES, p. 25  To me, Christian Science discoverer Mary Baker Eddy understood that we can, and ultimately will, master the false and misleading beliefs about life that bind us to problems. The “fittest” is always the truth. In proportion to our understanding of - that is, as we know for sure - the truth of Truth, God and His creation, man, we thrive. In her complete exposition of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy gives two graphic illustrations of mastering mortal error, – what we can call a mistaken, false view, or lie about life, disease and limitation included – with an understanding of the truth. Under the heading Benefits of metaphysics in the chapter “Christian Science Practice”, she writes: “Gazing at a chained lion, crouched for a spring, should not terrify a man.” p.380 Now, why wouldn’t he be afraid? Because he knows the lion is chained. When we know for sure that an error – any discord – is already chained by divine Truth, the God of harmony, goodness and health, we are strong and safe. Fear and its symptoms of stress and disease stop. Truth masters the lie in every case. Mrs. Eddy continues: “The body is affected only with the belief of disease produced by a so-called mind ignorant of the truth which chains disease. Nothing but the power of Truth can prevent the fear of error, and prove man’s dominion over error.” A second example in the same chapter involves a tiger. Under the heading Latent power, Mrs. Eddy writes : "By looking a tiger fearlessly in the eye, Sir Charles Napier sent it cowering back into the jungle. An animal may infuriate another by looking it in the eye, and both will fight for nothing. A man’s gaze, fastened fearlessly on a ferocious beast, often causes the beast to retreat in terror." p.370  And that begs the question: What is the truth? Are we a beast fighting a beast – a mortal, material being fighting with a mortal, material condition? Or are we man – the man of Truth’s, of God’s, creating, possessing and expressing dominion over mortal beliefs and material conditions through the power of Truth? What we know for sure determines outcomes. Mrs. Eddy concludes, “A man’s gaze, fastened fearlessly on a ferocious beast, often causes the beast to retreat in terror. This latter occurrence represents the power of Truth over error, — the might of intelligence exercised over mortal beliefs to destroy them…” (ibid) 23 years ago I suffered from the aggressive symptoms of pneumonia. One night, after a series of progressively difficult nights, I read two passages from Science and Health that nourished my prayers with spiritual truth. "Sickness is not a God-given, nor a self-constituted material power, which copes astutely with Mind and finally conquers it. God never endowed matter with power to disable Life or to chill harmony with a long and cold night of discord." p.378 "When it is learned that disease cannot destroy life… this understanding will quicken into newness of life." p.426  These passages reminded me of what I knew to be true - that sickness is not a material power and that disease can’t destroy the life of the real, spiritual man. I stopped being afraid. I understood that no matter how impressive the lion’s roar of symptoms, disease was chained and powerless over me. Only while I believed that sickness was a power that could control a weakened physical "me" did I suffer from pneumonia. But what I knew for sure was that matter – sick or well – is not me and does not control me. I knew for sure that I am the creation of Truth, divine Spirit, and therefore completely spiritual. I could feel the power of Truth in me, on me, healing me. From the moment that I gave consent to what I knew for sure, disease lost its destructive hold. Knowing the truth produced a definitive change in my physical state. I slept that night for the first time in weeks, and I was entirely well when I awakened the next morning. I didn’t need any period of convalescence – not even for an hour. Take a page from Oprah’s magazine. Think about what you know for sure. Question your truth, examine it thoroughly. Challenge it to meet the high standard of the Truth that is God. Test it for its substance and basis in what is unchangeably real and permanently true. What I know for sure is that what we know for sure is controlling us. And we can know the truth, the real truth of Truth, God, that makes us and keeps us free. Not a subscriber and want to be?
It's easy! Just sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS 4/1/2014 The real deal on love Real love is indestructible. The greatest injustices perpetrated against one haven’t the power to alter the innate capacity to love. Love is a spiritual faculty, deep and constant. As the image and likeness of God, we each reflect the divine Love that is God. There is no avoiding Love. There is no stopping love. Love loves, so we love. Love is power. Love heals. It’s a fact that hate can’t persist in the presence of the pure goodness and unselfed love of divine Love. Discerning the true spiritual nature of man as the image and likeness of Love, we witness Love’s power, we experience dominion over evil. Real love is practical. It isn’t wishy-washy, colorless, or flat. It isn’t lukewarm. Love is a spiritual force, active, resilient, prompt to respond. Love is tender and firm. Divine Love is our Mother. She nourishes, clothes, shelters and protects us. Love is our Shepherd searching tirelessly, finding us when we are lost. Love is our Father. He has graven us on the palms of His hands – that tender spot where we are safe and secure. We live uncrushable lives in Love. In a short essay titled "Love", Christian Science discoverer Mary Baker Eddy wrote, "What a word! I am in awe before it. Over what worlds on worlds it hath range and is sovereign! the underived, the incomparable, the infinite All of good, the alone God, is Love...  Here are a few earlier posts from this blog that bring out aspects of the love of Love.
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I have practiced Christian Science professionally in some form since 1979. But my journey with Christian Science started in a Sunday school where as a young child I was taught the Scriptures and some simple basics of Jesus' method of scientific Christian healing. A significant experience at the age of twelve opened my eyes to the great potential of this practice. After impaling my foot on a nail, I prayed the way I had learned in Sunday school. Within moments the pain stopped and healing began. By the next morning the wound had disappeared completely. Having experienced the great potential of Christian Science, there would be no turning back. |
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