MARY BAKER EDDY: DISCOVERER, FOUNDER, LEADER OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

     Why have Christ Jesus' teachings lived on through great turmoil and over thousands of years? Because what he's given to mankind is demonstrable, a systematic healing power.

     It's this systematic healing power that was discovered in 1866 by Mary Baker Eddy, a woman who earnestly followed God and searched the Scriptures. And today it remains a demonstrable, healing system.

     Jesus taught his disciples (and those who follow him today are also his disciples) that we should expect to do the kind of works he did, and even greater ones. He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father" (John 14:12).

     Those who believe, spiritually understand, Christ Jesus' words and works are able to repeat them today. We read in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, "Our Master healed the sick, practised Christian healing, and taught the generalities of its divine Principle to his students; but he left no definite rule for demonstrating the Principle of healing and preventing disease. This rule remained to be discovered in Christian Science" (Science & Health, pg 147).

     Through years of devoted searching, Mrs. Eddy discovered this rule. She discovered it not by worshiping Jesus, but in accordance with his teachings. Neither does Christian Science  teach the worship of Mrs. Eddy, but rather the contemporaneity of the healing system Jesus used. Through hardship and persevering dedication she recorded this healing system in her textbook.

     Mrs. Eddy grew up in a mainline Christian church. And she loved it. She hoped never to have to part with it. But, when her teachings were not openly welcomed into the creeds and orthodoxy of her home-church, she was divinely led to establish a church, a religion, a way of life, upon a deeper, more consecrated understanding of God and man.

     She diligently studied the Scriptures to learn more of what Christ Jesus and the prophets that went before him already knew: that God's love for His child, man, you and me, along with His allness, are provable when applied scientifically and systematically.

     She learned, through great trials and self-sacrifice, of Christ Jesus' teachings. She learned how to apply his teachings to everyday life, reconciling man to God, not God to man. So when Christian Scientists speak of the Discoverer of Christian Science with great love and dedication - it goes far beyond her material personality to her unfeigned love for mankind, to her self sacrifice, to her spiritual devotion, to all those things that have given each adherent a better way to think and to live.

     Each adherent of this faith has felt the Christ-power. Has seen healing. Has healed. Has been healed. Much more than mere believers many of the adherents of Christian Science have become understanderers of the divine law and Science. They have learned through great searching how to help their brother-man with their spiritual right thinking. So, for what Mrs. Eddy has done for mankind we are indeed grateful, but we are not worshipers of her personality; and she is not equated with Christ Jesus. For what Christ Jesus has done for mankind, again, we are indeed grateful - but more, we are in debt to him for sharing through his life, the power, presence, and allness of God. The world is in debt to Christ Jesus, and to Christ's Christianity.

     Mrs. Eddy writes about Jesus' life-work when she says: "The purpose of his great life-work extends through time and includes universal humanity. Its Principle is infinite, reaching beyond the pale of a single period or of a limited following. As time moves on, the healing elements of pure Christianity will be fairly dealt with; they will be sought and taught, and will glow in all the grandeur of universal goodness" (Science and Health, pg 328:30).