Following the Science

An axe head dropped in water will sink. Few would argue with this. Physical science explains that gravity will pull it down. So when a man accidentally dropped a borrowed axe head into a river, he was upset, believing it was lost forever.

But the prophet Elisha, obedient to God’s law, knew better. The Bible reports that Elisha, learning of the accident, threw a stick into the water – and the axe head rose to the surface (see II Kings 6:1-7).

There are so many areas of life where people are arguing about physical science. From vaccine questions to climate change, many hold fierce opinions. But do we really want to look to the physical senses to tell us what’s true? In every case, physical science, which is based on the evidence reported by these limited and limiting senses, eventually leaves us stranded with the conviction that sickness, accidents, and disasters – discords of every description, regardless of the apparent cause – are real and inevitable.

If we want to conquer our own fears and problems and help our fellow man do the same, we must take our thought higher than what even the best of that science reports. We need to look to divine Science, which fulfills the law of God, Spirit, to inform us about creation and its functions.

The Bible tells us that God, divine Mind, created all and governs all. And since He is wholly good, every element of His creation must also be wholly good – and the universe is composed entirely of His spiritual ideas. His law governs each of those good, immortal ideas. Mind’s ideas, therefore, can never become diseased, never decay, never fall prey to chance or discord, never die. There can be no disasters, either “natural” or “man-made,” when all is made by Mind. Each of God’s ideas has purpose, joy, ability, supply, and well-being for all eternity.

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes in the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” “Deductions from material hypotheses are not scientific. They differ from real Science because they are not based on the divine law.

“Divine Science reverses the false testimony of the material senses, and thus tears away the foundations of error” (p. 273).

Healing in Christian Science occurs when the individual stops believing in the reality of so-called physical science and the difficulty confronting him and begins to understand the eternal presence and power of God, good. The physical sciences can tell us nothing of spiritual reality, in which man and the universe are eternally harmonious. In divine Science, there is no real disease, no real accident, no real lack.

But all of these things certainly feel real to the physical senses. That’s why we’re so much in need of Christ, which Christian Science defines as “the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error” (Science and Health, p. 583). Christ reaches us with healing truth when we are willing to yield even our most cherished human opinions, beliefs, and practices to God and His law. This frees us to see His law in operation, right then and right where we are.

The morning after straining my back, I woke up barely able to move. As I prayed about my mobility, it suddenly struck me that I was suffering from two so-called laws of material science. The first was that a back could be strained; the second was that a strain is painful. But both contradict spiritual law, or Christian Science, which shows that God’s creation is indestructible and painless. Over the course of the day, I persistently affirmed that I was subject only to the laws of God, Spirit – to the Science of His creation. By the next morning, I was completely free.

Turning to divine Science when faced with any discord is the opposite of ignoring a problem. For instance, individuals in all kinds of situations describe being led to technical and policy solutions – often unexpected ones – through consecrated, humble prayer. This includes situations where there were deeply opposing interests and widely divergent views of the problem. Even climate and so-called natural disasters have been mitigated through spiritually scientific truth-knowing.

The man with the axe head initially suffered a loss because he accepted the side of belief in physical science. Elisha, choosing the divine Science of God, proved there can be no loss. God’s law, expressed through divine Science, is always good!

Adapted from an editorial published in the May 26, 2025, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.