# Have you had any experiences with Christian Science?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 1, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762 "2011-12-01T23:39:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/101 "2012-01-02T02:11:03Z")

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> [@MICRDICK](#):
>
> **I do think CS can heal it, but would not recommend doing it and you would probably not find a Practitioner who would take the case**. When your daughter is older, if she wanted to study it, she might find herself healed, and she would be managing it with medical technology during her studies.

What’s wrong, not enough faith to do the job?

Lets see some true medical literature of real healings.

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**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/102 "2012-01-02T02:22:28Z")

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> [@MICRDICK](#):
>
> I found this at this wiki link: [Mary Baker Eddy - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Baker_Eddy)
> 
> This was attributed to Twain by his biographer Albert Bigelow Paine:
> 
> “Of course you have been benefited. Christian Science is humanity’s boon. Mother Eddy deserves a place in the Trinity as much as any member of it. She has organized and made available a healing principle that for two thousand years has never been employed, except as the merest kind of guesswork. She is the benefactor of the age.”
> 
> It seemed strange, at the time, to hear him speak in this way concerning a practice of which he was generally regarded as the chief public antagonist. It was another angle of his many-sided character.

Given Twain’s wry wit, are you sure this isn’t meant to be read with a hint of sarcasm?

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**Author:** ![MICRDICK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@MICRDICK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MICRDICK)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/103 "2012-01-02T08:08:46Z")

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> [@Musicat](#):
>
> Used morphine to dull pain? So she didn’t pray enough? Didn’t believe enough? Didn’t use her own medicine? Why should we believe such a hypocrite?

You are attributing things to it that are not in it, and then using that straw creation to ridicule it.

God is Love, pure Good. He/She does not create evil and suffering, that is created by the incorrect beliefs we hold in our mortal mind, and a connection with God can restore perfect normalcy.

Her life was spent trying to teach how to find that connection that would bring healing. Healing is not only of disease, but also of discord.

The experience of a Christian Science Healing also includes a wonderful elevation of thought, a sense of peace, that is unlike anything I have ever experienced. It is a glimpse of Heaven.

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**Author:** ![MICRDICK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@MICRDICK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MICRDICK)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/104 "2012-01-02T08:28:23Z")

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> [@runner pat](#):
>
> What’s wrong, not enough faith to do the job?
> 
> Lets see some true medical literature of real healings.

I think you too are attributing things to it that are not in it, and then using that straw creation to ridicule it.

It can be studied while using medical technology to handle a situation you are trying to heal, and there are several accounts of this in the textbook.

She says that to heal we must move past faith to understanding.

The understanding IMO is that God did not create disease, evil, and discord, and therefore it is not real, it is a creation of our own beliefs.

Our own beliefs are so powerful and difficult to see clearly that we need a connection to God to see actual reality and free ourselves from them, correct them.

I provided an Amazon link earlier to the book Spiritual Healing In A Scientific Age, which contains a lot of accounts of well diagnosed conditions that were healed. It can be borrowed from Christian Science Reading Rooms or purchased on Amazon.

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/105 "2012-01-02T12:00:56Z")

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So you can’t provide a single case of healing that’s been confirmed outside the Church.

As mentioned upthread, how about an amputee or burn victim? Surely that’s just as possible as any disease to heal and far easier to prove.

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**Author:** ![MICRDICK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@MICRDICK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MICRDICK)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/106 "2012-01-02T16:26:53Z")

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> [@runner pat](#):
>
> So you can’t provide a single case of healing that’s been confirmed outside the Church.
> 
> As mentioned upthread, how about an amputee or burn victim? Surely that’s just as possible as any disease to heal and far easier to prove.

I have never heard of an amputee growing something back with CS.

There are two books with healings of medically diagnosed conditions, Healing Spiritually and Spiritual Healings in A Scientific Age. Both are available at CS Reading Rooms or Amazon.

In my own experience, it was the restoration of strength, the removal of pain, and the elevation of thought that led me to become a student of CS. The event is described in the second post in this thread.

My decision to study it was not based on the reports of other healings, it was based purely its effect on my life.

However, based on my personal experience I believe that the thousands of published accounts are accurate.

I spent my life as an electronic designer and microprocessor programmer. I was a very hard science type.

My abilities were greatly enhanced after I began studying CS. I attribute that to my study of CS, and I am still designing neat stuff at 71 and trying to apply the teachings of Jesus in my dealings with others.

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/107 "2012-01-02T16:33:34Z")

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> [@MICRDICK](#):
>
> I have never heard of an amputee growing something back with CS.
> 
> There are two books with healings of medically diagnosed conditions, Healing Spiritually and Spiritual Healings in A Scientific Age. Both are available at CS Reading Rooms or Amazon.
> 
> In my own experience, it was the restoration of strength, the removal of pain, and the elevation of thought that led me to become a student of CS. The event is described in the second post in this thread.
> 
> My decision to study it was not based on the reports of other healings, it was based purely its effect on my life.
> 
> However, based on my personal experience I believe that the thousands of published accounts are accurate.
> 
> I spent my life as an electronic designer and microprocessor programmer. I was a very hard science type.
> 
> My abilities were greatly enhanced after I began studying CS. I attribute that to my study of CS, and I am still designing neat stuff at 71 and trying to apply the teachings of Jesus in my dealings with others.

Yet again, I tell you that we are _not_ looking for anecdotes, no matter how many there are or how they are collected. Can you link to a _single_ case(NOT the title of a book of anecdotes, please!) from a non-CS source that gives the facts about a CS healing, something we can check up on? Your personal beliefs as to the veracity of the anecdotes you refer to are of no use to us for this purpose.

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/108 "2012-01-02T18:44:36Z")

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> [@MICRDICK](#):
>
> I have and it worked amazingly well. I developed **what seemed to be** a heart condition when I was 55. Within a few months I could not climb two flights of stairs that I had previously run up several times each day. I was an electronic designer and small company owner, and had been an Army Sergeant when I was young before finishing college. I was a firm believer in mind over matter, but it wasn’t working with this problem. I was in total denial but the symptoms were getting worse and worse.
> 
> One day I had \*\*what seemed to be \*\*a heart attach at work. I was so paralyzed with pain that I couldn’t lean forward in my chair to call 911. An employee, who was a lifelong Christian Scientist, went past my door and saw my condition, and asked it I would like for him to try to help me with silent prayer. I said yes, and he want back to his desk. Almost immediately the pain diminished to what I had been accustomed to. I went to his desk and told him I was a little better and was going home for the day.
> 
> I had several more hits that day and during the night but they went away. A little before Dawn, I awoke, still screwed up, and dozed back off. I then awoke with an incredible sense of peace that I could never have imagined I could feel. I have heard of people describing near death experiences that were similar.
> 
> I tried to hold on to the feeling but could not, but when it passed, I realized I was no longer in pain. My appetite had returned and I cleaned the kitchen and fixed a big breakfast. When I got to work I climbed the stairs with no problems. After babying myself for a few days, I got on my treadmill, which I had not used for months, and ran until I was panting, with no problems. I passed a physical a few months later with no problems. I resumed running up the stairs.
> 
> The experience was so amazing that I began attending the employee’s local Christian Science Church, and have become very adept at spiritual healing through silent prayer. I am now 71 and my retirement project is a shrub and tree nursery. I do hard physical work frequently.
> 
> \*\*I had a life insurance physical last year when I turned 70 and was renewed until the age of 80. It included an EKG and no problems were found.  
> \*\*  
> It really works.
> 
> The CS church is unique in not having a clergy. Services are conducted by Readers elected from the membership for fixed terms. The church is led by Journal Listed Practitioners.
> 
> These people have proved their ability to bring healing through silent prayer and have chosen to spend their lives healing and teaching. Most charge from $15 to $50 per day and first call healings are common. Most have several dozen clients at any time. They must make their entire living from their healing practice to retain their listing in the Monthly Christian Science Journal. This arrangement keeps politics out of the compensation of church leaders. If they are successful, they do very well, otherwise they must improve or drop out.
> 
> The Journal is available in any Christian Science Reading Room, and Practitioners are also listed online.
> 
> The Church was founded by Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered the methods used. They are described in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which is the Christian Science Textbook.
> 
> The best book ABOUT CS IMHO is Spiritual Healing In A Scientific Age by Peel. For a quick take read from page 16 to the end of the chapter and then read the story beginning on page 54.
> 
> Please feel free to email me if you want more information. I created a website for my local CS Church at [www.csvincennes.com](http://www.csvincennes.com).

So despite never having an actual diagnosis by a real doctor, you determined you were healed. Healed of what?

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/109 "2012-01-02T18:56:38Z")

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> [@MICRDICK](#):
>
> I have never heard of an amputee growing something back with CS.

Oh, so God has His limitations? Or is He just stubborn? Vindictive? Sadistic?

Interesting that the only examples you can give of divine intervention are not only anecdotal, but things that could be, and often are, healed _without_ divine intervention. Doesn’t that suggest to you that what’s going on is merly wishful thinking?

That’s why we’re looking for something REALLY miraculous and well-documented, like re-growing a limb. If He created man in the first place, how hard can it be to make a simple replacement part?

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**Author:** ![Jbone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@Jbone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jbone)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/110 "2012-01-02T20:42:49Z")

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I would actually be interested to see if any CS-published documents were written on their own failures of CS therapy attempts not working and the patient dies. Modern medicine will look into the cause as to why and how something happened and why or why treatments did not work. To me, “It was God’s will” is not an acceptable answer.

For my direct story, in 2005 I was diagnoses with a blood clot in my leg that traveled to my lungs. I spent my time in the ICU and my religious family prayed and prayed. Prayer didn’t help, Heparin therapy did. I had a clear leg, and a lots of scar tissue in my lungs that is still there. Maybe I’ll pay $50 and see if they can pray for that to heal, it’s a lot cheaper than a $60,000 ICU visit for a week.

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**Author:** ![MICRDICK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@MICRDICK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MICRDICK)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/111 "2012-01-02T22:26:46Z")

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> [@runner pat](#):
>
> So despite never having an actual diagnosis by a real doctor, you determined you were healed. Healed of what?

Healed of not being able to climb two flights of stairs without stopping to let the chest and arm pain subside.

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/112 "2012-01-02T22:32:56Z")

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> [@MICRDICK](#):
>
> Healed of not being able to climb two flights of stairs without stopping to let the chest and arm pain subside.

Another question not answered.  
Do you have a cite for a _single_ independently verified CS healing? Surely, with the entire history of the church based on this premise, you can come up with just one. No collections of anecdotes by CS believers, please-just a single cite.

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**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/113 "2012-01-02T22:35:57Z")

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Yeah, to the OP, magic doesn’t work. Sometimes people get better on their own. That isn’t God helping you, it’s your body’s healing mechanisms doing the job they were crafted by billions of years of evolution to do.

Some people who get better naturally are relying on prayer instead of seeking medical attention. They think the prayer has worked because they got better. The ones that don’t get better don’t tell you about it, because they die.

If so-called “Christian Science” didn’t exist, more people would be alive.

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**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/114 "2012-01-02T22:42:31Z")

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> [@MICRDICK](#):
>
> Healed of not being able to climb two flights of stairs without stopping to let the chest and arm pain subside.

Imagine this: A particular brand of handgun jams one time in 1000 shots. 1000 different people are attacked by 1000 different muggers who level the guns at their heads and discharge the weapons.

One person would apparently survive because of a miracle, as the gun mis-feeds. But in actuality it’s just random chance. You only hear about the story of the guy who survived, because the others fall silently to the ground when their brains are liquefied.

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/115 "2012-01-03T00:48:05Z")

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> [@Lobohan](#):
>
> Imagine this: A particular brand of handgun jams one time in 1000 shots. 1000 different people are attacked by 1000 different muggers who level the guns at their heads and discharge the weapons.
> 
> One person would apparently survive because of a miracle, as the gun mis-feeds. But in actuality it’s just random chance. You only hear about the story of the guy who survived, because the others fall silently to the ground when their brains are liquefied.

They didn’t pray hard enough.

**MICRDICK** , when i asked what you were cured of, I didn’t mean what symptoms, I meant what specific condition, illness or disease were you cured of. And I do mean what did the doctor who diagnosed it call it.

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**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/116 "2012-01-03T01:27:24Z")

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> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#):
>
> Given Twain’s wry wit, are you sure this isn’t meant to be read with a hint of sarcasm?

Very likely - the quote cited from Wikipedia is followed:

> [@](#):
>
> In view of Mark Twain’s extended and caustic attack in his book “Christian Science” on both Christian Science and its founder, Mary Baker Eddy (whom he once described as the “queen of frauds and hypocrites”), it is widely assumed that his reference to “Mother Eddy” as “the benefactor of the age” was purely sarcastic.

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**Author:** ![MICRDICK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@MICRDICK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MICRDICK)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/117 "2012-01-03T12:58:39Z")

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> [@runner pat](#):
>
> They didn’t pray hard enough.
> 
> **MICRDICK** , when i asked what you were cured of, I didn’t mean what symptoms, I meant what specific condition, illness or disease were you cured of. And I do mean what did the doctor who diagnosed it call it.

I was in denial of the obvious symptoms and what they indicated. I did not seek medical attention.

I was healed of just what I described, months of being unable to climb the stairs without stopping to let the pain diminish. I also never again had the intense paralyzing pain that led the CS employee to offer to help me through silent prayer and led to the healing experience. After the experience I was able to run up the stairs again as I had done for years, and still do.

The books I described earlier have a lot of healings with doctors and locations etc. They were written to address these sort of questions.

There is a testimony section on a Christian Science website. Here is a link to a healing of skin cancer: [http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/diagnosed-skin-cancer-healed](http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/diagnosed-skin-cancer-healed)

I don’t have a copy of Spiritual Healing In A Scientific Age, but I think the presentation of the healings described in it are more like what you are asking for than the testimony above. I am sending the one above because it is readily available. There are thousands of healings like it in the CS literature.

There is a whole world of people who routinely use CS to handle the problems encountered in daily life. Their experiences seem completely impossible to those who are not familiar with it, but they are actually happening as we speak.

When they fail there is often publicity, just as there is publicity when a plane crashes, although the sky is full of planes and crashes are very infrequent.  
If we followed your advice we would ground all planes and forbid anyone from going near them or talking about them, or maybe just allow adults to ride on them and prosecuting parents who let their children on them and a crash occurred.

To me these experiences indicate that the common understanding that matter is real is an illusion based on our human beliefs. We are actually spiritual beings having a human experience.

Being a technically oriented person, I use the analogy of a virtual reality game. We are living in the mother of all virtual reality games. I don’t know its purpose, but I am confident that I will emerge from it via what is seen as death, still alive as the intelligent self aware spiritual entity that I truly am.

God runs the game, and he sent Jesus into it to give us advice on how to make it more like Heaven and less like Hell, and to demonstrate healing and to tell us that we all can do it. Jesus never used drugs, but I am sure he would not have opposed medical technology. The God he described is Love, and does not want any of his creations to suffer. He did tell us he would send the Comforter, and it is there for those who seek it.

John 14:26  
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/118 "2012-01-03T13:17:51Z")

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> [@MICRDICK](#):
>
> I was in denial of the obvious symptoms and what they indicated. I did not seek medical attention.

Not being a medical professional, you were not qualified to diagnose the symptoms, however “obvious” you thought they were. No proper testing was done. _You made an unqualified guess._

> [@MICRDICK](#):
>
> I was healed of just what I described, months of being unable to climb the stairs without stopping to let the pain diminish. I also never again had the intense paralyzing pain that led the CS employee to offer to help me through silent prayer and led to the healing experience. After the experience I was able to run up the stairs again as I had done for years, and still do.

You have no idea what was wrong with you-it could have been a bad back, a muscle spasm or any of a number of other things that sometimes heal themselves over time(or even sometimes all of a sudden). perhaps if you had gone to a medical professional x-rays could have been taken and you wouldn’t have spent all that time in pain.

> [@MICRDICK](#):
>
> The books I described earlier have a lot of healings with doctors and locations etc. They were written to address these sort of questions.

Unless they show the actual medical diagnosis before and after the healing(NOT a believer’s accounting of the diagnosis), then that example, and all others you present, are worthless.

> [@MICRDICK](#):
>
> There is a testimony section on a Christian Science website. Here is a link to a healing of skin cancer: [http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/diagnosed-skin-cancer-healed](http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/diagnosed-skin-cancer-healed)

Useless without the actual diagnosis before and immediately after(again, NOT the believer’s accounting of them.)  
I have asked several times for cites from impartial sources that show just the medical diagnosis, before and after, from just _one_ case of CS healing. Is there something you are not understanding, or are you deliberately giving me the opposite of what I am requesting?

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/119 "2012-01-03T14:18:29Z")

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> [@MICRDICK](#):
>
> There is a testimony section on a Christian Science website. Here is a link to a healing of skin cancer: [http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/diagnosed-skin-cancer-healed](http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/diagnosed-skin-cancer-healed)

Cancers of various types are well known to spontaneously go into remission.

The case you linked to took several months for the “healing” to occur, the same time span as remission. There is nothing to point to a miracle. If the healing had occurred overnight or a broken limb restore in a similar time frame, that would be proof.

An amputee or burn victim restored would provide similar proof.

Citing Christian Science publications are worthless as there is no outside verification.

Try _The Lancet_ or _New England Journal Of Medicine._

A true case of miraculous healing would be all over the news and medical publications.

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-had-any-experiences-with-christian-science/604762/120 "2012-01-03T15:01:17Z")

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I just went through the first seven cases on [this page.](http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing)

[Dyslexia overcome](http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/dyslexia-overcome)  
There is no diagnosis of dyslexia mentioned. She spent her whole life starting from the first grade working with turors to learn how to handle the problem.  
I don’t see a healing here, just something every dyslexic goes through.

[Diagnosed diabetes](http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/diagnosed-diabetes-healed-through-christian-science)  
One third of adults with type 2 diabetes have no symptoms.  
No doctor said this woman is cured.

[Allergy symptoms and poison ivy healed](http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/allergy-symptoms-and-poison-ivy-healed)  
Personal anectode. No proof it ever happened.  
[Healed of allergies and asthma](http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/healed-of-allergies-and-asthma)  
She was taking treatments for years but somehow God healed her.  
Again, personal anecdote with no confirmation.

[Diagnosed skin cancer healed](http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/diagnosed-skin-cancer-healed)  
Cancers are known to go into remission. The timeline here does not suggest anything of a miraculous nature.  
[Healed of smoking habit](http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/healed-of-smoking-habit)  
While faith in God helped her quit, there is nothing here to indicate a healing.

[An angel message heals](http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/real-life-experiences-of-healing/more-accounts-of-healing/an-angel-message-heals)  
How can she know it was an irregular heartbeat that was waking her up?  
No doctor involved, no way of knowing if the story is true

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