The Bible is your book

. . . If you are searching for answers to life's deepest questions: What is the meaning of existence? Why am I here? Is there a God? Who am I? . . . if you are worried about mankind's future, the state of world affairs, nuclear war.

. . . if you are seeking moral and spiritual guidance for living a happy life and being a good person.

. . . if you find life hectic and unsatisfying, and you long for inner peace and fulfillment.

The Bible has powerful answers for every one of these questions and needs. Does this seem an unrealistic claim for such an ancient book? It would be, if the Bible were only history, a collection of spiritual insights, or great literature. But the Bible transcends these classifications, though it certainly includes all three.

It has present-day relevance and timeliness because its message is grounded in that which exists independent of space, time, and matter. The Bible is not just about life; it's rooted in divine Life. It's grounded in Truth itself. And Life and Truth, being God, do not change but are eternal and therefore supremely relevant and applicable to every age.

This is why the bible is so important to mankind, with all its urgent problems. It shows the way to healing solutions based on ultimate law, power, cause, and effect. When its message is understood, it lifts people out of spiritual darkness, improving health and morals. It helps bring sanity to society and to the uses of technology. It tends to counteract the causes of war. It can do all this because it helps people get in touch with reality, the divine Principle of existence, God.

For the Bible is God's book, the chronicle of God's great self-revelation to the world Sometimes this revelation to the world. Sometimes this revelation is virtually unbostructed, as when God reveals Himself to Moses as the great I AM, the one God who is infinite Spirit. In other places, the vision of God is less clear, and God is portrayed as a mighty tribal warrior, a wrathful destroyer of His enemies.

But the revelation came brilliantly into view as God's expression in His Son, Christ Jesus. In the Gospels, the seeker for Truth can find the record of Truth's human manifestation. As the Bible so beautifully puts it, "The World was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." n1

n1 John 1:14.

It was this intimate relationship to divine reality itself that empowered Jesus to solve every life problem. His understanding of the true nature of reality enabled him to practice the ultimate theology, medicine, and Science. And we can too. The Bible shows us how.

God's book gives us His laws, as in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. It tells us that God's power to save and heal is always present when we turn to Him with faith andm understanding. It gives us compelling biographies of those whose lives were touched and changed by the divine. It comforts us in time of sorrow and need, as in the inspired poetry of the psalms. Through the Gospels, it reveals God's saving Christ and mankind's pathway out of mortality.

This is why the Bible is your book. In a very real sense, it was written specifically for you. And you can become better acquainted with it and God's message to you. Christian Scientists study the Bible daily, along with Science and Health with Key to the Scripturesm by Mary Baker Eddy. n2 If the Bible is unfamiliar to you, the Bible Lessons in the Christian Science Quarterlym can help you explore it and discover its spiritual message. As Mrs. Eddy writes: "The Scriptures are very sacred. Our aim must be to have them understood spiritually , for only by this understanding can truth be gained." n3

n3 Science and Healthm , p. 547.

When spiritually understood, the Bible is indeed the Book of Life and Truth. Shouldn't this Book become your daily guide and counsel?