The blessed Bible

The Holy Bible has done an immense amount of good for mankind over the centuries. Probably more than any other book it has comforted, sustained, healed, and directed millions.

But some people may wonder why this blessed book hasn't done even more for the race. For instance, why hasn't it healed more of our physical ills? The prophets in the Old Testament, and especially Christ Jesus and his followers in the New Testament, healed many. And the Master prophesied, ''He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.''n1

n1 John 14:12.

Why hasn't this prophecy been more widely fulfilled? Is it because those healing works are believed to have been the outcome of a special power possessed by the Biblical giants and their immediate followers, rather than the effect of their discernment of God's universal laws, available to all? Might it be that mankind's interpretation of the Bible has been too limited to its literal meaning while its sublime spiritual message has been largely overlooked? Or that the Bible's spiritual message is obscured by people's material sense of it? Perhaps the answer is, all of the above. But regardless of the reason, the Bible's inspired Word remains in place and its power undiminished.

A number of years ago I was healed in a way that, to me, was Biblical in nature. It came about by reaching deeply for the spiritual message of the Scriptures. I was hit in the eye by a ball. There was much pain and almost total loss of peripheral vision, depth and color perception, and focus. At the time I was a military jet pilot and needed the full faculty of sight.

I was very fearful. As I prayed, the thought came to study the Bible passage, ''There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.''n2 I reasoned along the lines I had learned as a pupil in the Christian Science Sunday School: God is Love. God is All. God is good. There is no fear in God, because fear is bad. In fact, perfect Love precludes fear through its universal allness and goodness. So in truth there is no fear in God or in man.

n2 I John 4:18.

A sense of God's tender presence began to touch my thought, for this spiritually radical reasoning was logical and powerful. Then I asked myself, ''Why are you afraid?'' The immediate answer was, ''I'm not afraid. Man is God's likeness, so there is no fear.'' I felt at peace. I looked up from my desk and could see clearly.

I was in awe of the healing power of God revealed in the Bible. Nothing like this had ever before happened as a result of my own prayers, and I thought, ''Pure Christian healing can't be this easy.'' Instantly the eye clouded up again.

The following Sunday after church, a Christian Science Minister for Armed Services Personnel, who spent much of his time helping others understand more of God through Christian Science, asked how I was doing. I briefly told him, and he reassured me of the simplicity of God's healing law.

All the way back to the base I could think of nothing else, and reveled in the simplicity of God's genuine, utter allness and man in His likeness.

The thought of perfect God and His perfect creation was a new and tangible reality to me - more tangible to my spiritually awakened thought than the material surroundings, which seemed like a shadow. As I looked up at a billboard just inside the base gate, I realized my sight was normal again. I was naturally grateful for that. But I was far more grateful for this new awareness of reality. Soon after, I had a required annual flight physical with its usual special attention to the eyes, and no mention was made of any problems , nor has the trouble returned in the years since. To me, this was a vivid example of the healing power of the Bible's timeless truths.

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: ''The Scriptures are very sacred. Our aim must be to have them understood spiritually, for only by this understanding can truth be gained.''n3 It seems likely that as this aim is met, the already immense good our blessed Bible now is doing will be immeasurably increased. The fulfillment of Christ Jesus' prophecy that we will heal as he did is inevitable.

n3 Science and Health, p. 547.

DAILY BIBLE VERSE All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable. . . for instruction in righteousness. II Timothy 3:16