‘Miracles’ for everyone

Who doesn’t like hearing about miracles? Or better yet, experiencing one! Both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible have a fair share of remarkable experiences, from the Red Sea parting so Moses could lead the Israelites to freedom from their Egyptian captors, to the healing works of Jesus and his disciples. Even today we occasionally hear news of “miraculous” occurrences.

Macmillan Dictionary defines “miracle” as “an event that cannot be explained according to the laws of nature and is considered to be an act of God,” or “something extremely lucky that would not normally be possible.” The first definition is certainly applicable to the many wonderful healings found in the Bible. Christ Jesus’ healings of lifelong physical conditions, blindness, deafness, contagious diseases, character flaws, and other ailments are a primary example.

But are they examples of luck? Christian Science offers a different way to think about such events: as based on unchanging, always-present laws of God, who is divine Principle – spiritual laws that everyone who is willing to learn can understand and put into practice.

Mary Baker Eddy, who founded this news organization, discovered these laws of God over a century ago through her study of the Bible. She was able to heal herself and others through the same laws and power of God that undergirded Jesus’ healings and teachings. She named her discovery Christian Science; and today, too, many individuals are being healed through putting into practice the ideas found in the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” authored by Mrs. Eddy.

Science and Health explains: “The term CHRISTIAN SCIENCE was introduced by the author to designate the scientific system of divine healing.

“The revelation consists of two parts:

“1. The discovery of this divine Science of Mind-healing, through a spiritual sense of the Scriptures and through the teachings of the Comforter, as promised by the Master.

“2. The proof, by present demonstration, that the so-called miracles of Jesus did not specially belong to a dispensation now ended, but that they illustrated an ever-operative divine Principle” (p. 123).

Starting from this premise, we begin to realize that experiencing divine goodness isn’t a question of luck, but of universal Principle. God, good, is the divine Principle and creator of the universe, including us as His spiritual offspring. It’s logical that everything in God’s universe is spiritual and good, like God; this perfect Principle perpetually maintains its creation in its spiritual perfection. When we understand even a little of this spiritual reality, we can demonstrate in some degree its healing effect.

When I was very new in my study of Christian Science, I worked for a poultry processing plant. One day, while opening a crate, the sharp end of a wire closure caught in the inner part of my thumb, wounding it pretty badly. My first thought was, I haven’t time for this!

But my next thought was, Why not try applying what you know of Christian Science? So I thought about what I had been learning: that because God is perfect, infinite Spirit, injuries are unknown to Him. Therefore, an injury could not truly be part of me as God’s spiritual offspring, or idea. I mentally affirmed that I was governed by God’s law of perpetual goodness, and that even though the injury seemed like part of me, it was completely unknown to spiritual sense, our inherent capacity to view the spiritual reality of being.

I was able to continue working, and about a half-hour later, I suddenly remembered my thumb. There was not a single bit of evidence that it had been injured in any way.

It sure felt like a kind of miracle. But I knew it wasn’t luck. It was the kind of healing that naturally comes as a result of prayerfully affirming the laws of God. “This stuff works!” was my initial reaction. From that day to this, I have diligently studied and practiced Christian Science in all aspects of my life, and have continued to experience and witness wonderful healings, so-called “miracles” – as we all can!