Science and health - Some thoughts

As I begin to delve into 'Science and Health' A few initial thoughts strike me. I'll let the author(ess) speak for herself with her own words from the preface:

"Since the author's discovery of the might of Truth in the treatment of disease as well as of sin, her system has been fully tested and has not been found wanting; but to reach the heights of Christian Science, man must live in obedience to its divine Principle. To develop the full might of this Science, the discords of corporeal sense must yield to the harmony of spiritual sense, even as the science of music corrects false tones and gives sweet concord to sound.

Theology and physics teach that both Spirit and matter are real and good, whereas the fact is that Spirit is good and real, and matter is Spirit's opposite. The question, What is Truth, is answered by demonstration, by healing both disease and sin; and this demonstration shows that Christian healing confers the most health and makes the best men. On this basis Christian Science will have a fair fight. Sickness has been combated for centuries by doctors using material remedies; but the question arises, Is there less sickness because of these practitioners? A vigorous "No" is the response deducible from two connate facts, — the reputed longevity of the Antediluvians, and the rapid multiplication and increased violence of diseases since the flood. "

I'm left feeling like I'm about to be visited by a snake oil salesmen with the very first sentence above in that (I'm assuming) the 'truth' spoken of here appears to be a subjective rather than universal 'truth'. I have to ask who tested the system and found it to be 'not wanting' and what the parameters that led to this conclusion were. I assume that this is a direct comparison between those using the system and those not using it and have to say that were the results good enough toi support this system, why on earth don't the faith-healers and other 'faith' types employing it one hundred years on from the book I'm reading?

Embracing her system and putting off the 'discords' of bodily existence and taking up the harmony that being spiritual brings strikes the right chord with me. It is obvious that words were her forte (sic!) and here as I understand it is a reference to putting off the old man and becoming a new creation in Christ, but I don't get the feeling that she means this (hindsight is a great aid and sometimes hindrance isn't it?) and have to say that music is sweet when the rules are applies and discordant when they are not. As a Christian I know this to be true. We call this book of rules, the Bible.

The only place I know where science teaches that matter is good is in the field of pharmacology, and I'll bet drugs don't feature greatly for CS members, and matter doesn't need to be spoken of as real, because it is! After all, if it wasn't how could we measure, see, feel or otherwise experience its presence, effect or reality?

Theology teaches that the Holy Spirit is real and good and that matter is also real and good (and He saw that it was good, referring to the orb we inhabit). If 'Spirit' is the Holy Spirit then I would agree on the real and good, BUT, theology also teaches us that when it comes to 'spirit', what we have before us is not at all good, but is still real.

I love the concept of matter and Spirit as opposites. Hot - cold, darkness - light, physical - abstract, body - Spirit. Mmmm.

MBE speaks much of physical healing and I have put down my book for a few minutes to see what evidence there is of this, after all, I have a long list of cancer sufferers that I might need to see joining up if this is even a little true.

postscript.

Quoting from page 139 of S&H:

"The decisions by vote of Church Councils as to what should and should not be considered Holy Writ; the manifest mistakes in the ancient versions; the thirty thousand different readings in the Old Testament, and the three hundred thousand in the New, these facts show how a mortal and material sense stole into the divine record, with its own hue darkening to some extent the inspired pages."

This isn't really getting any better! Mind you, there's now only three hundred and thirty-thousand errors in the Bible and these are (to quote a recent email from a CS believer), "All corrected and brought into a unity through the revealed and scholarly writings of MBE!" It is fast becoming obvious that we are looking at Gnosticism - Man (Corporeal) = Evil, God (Spirit) = Good. Oh that there was someone between man and God who can intercede for us.

Gosh, there is!