Was there ever a physical scientist who did not have faith in the basic assumptions of their science?
Christian Science is no different:
"When we come to have more faith in the truth of being than we have in error, more faith in Spirit than in matter, more faith in living than in dying, more faith in God than in man, then no material suppositions can prevent us from healing the sick and destroying error." (S&H)
1. More faith in the truth of being than in error: more faith in starting with "perfect God and perfect man" - than in starting with "man is born into sin.'
2. More faith in Spirit than in matter: more faith in "the spirit quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing" - than in "911 is where I turn first in emergency. When all physical needs are met, then I may turn to God."
3. More faith in living than in dying: more faith in "God is Life, my life, and death belongs only to a mistake" - than in "death is the inevitable consequence of life, and life after death is a totally different thing supposedly."
4. More faith in God than in man: more faith in "the divine Principle, Love, the unchanging law of the universe" - than in "the experts and institutions and empirical evidence!"
The faith referred to here implies consistency, trustworthiness, as explained below:
"In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, faith and the
words corresponding thereto have these two defini-
tions, trustfulness and trustworthiness. One
kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others.
Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how
to work out one's "own salvation, with fear and trem-
bling." "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!"
expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the
injunction, "Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved!"
demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spir-
itual understanding and confides all to God." (S&H)