Editorial December 8, 1951 Issue

THE INWARD VOICE

Richard J. Davis

As one becomes a student of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," he sees clearly why Mary Baker Eddy, its author and the revelator of this Science, aptly termed her book the Key to the Scriptures, for in the light of the revealed Christ, Truth, which this book presents, the pages of the Bible become illuminated and take on a deeper and far more spiritual meaning than a mere literal reading of the Scriptures would ever convey.

For centuries the Bible has remained for the average reader a closed and generally misunderstood book. Many of its statements and incidents have seemed obscure and contradictory, and therefore have been largely misinterpreted. False theological concepts have clouded the vision of what otherwise would bring great spiritual light. Realizing this, Mrs. Eddy writes in her textbook (p. 319): "The divine Science taught in the original language of the Bible came through inspiration, and needs inspiration to be understood. Hence the misapprehension of the spiritual meaning of the Bible, and the misinterpretation of the Word in some instances by uninspired writers, who only wrote down what an inspired teacher had said."

For instance, we find in the Bible countless references to the voice of God which, if taken literally, would lead to the conclusion that God, or Deity, is a personal entity separated from man, that He is a kind of spiritual being who beholds both good and evil and who apparently carries on personal conversations with mortals. The study of Christian Science, however, awakens the student to see that the voice of God in every circumstance and under all conditions is the active and ever-present utterance of Truth, speaking to or unfolding in the human consciousness. In Christian Science we see that the voice of God speaks and is heard by every individual as spiritual sense is awakened and finds expression in spiritual attentiveness and receptivity. Referring to the many related incidents where the prophets and men of God demonstrated their inseparable oneness and unity with divine inspiration, our textbook says (p. 308), "The Soul-inspired patriarchs heard the voice of Truth, and talked with God as consciously as man talks with man."

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE NURSE