The Bible Speaks to You July 20, 1968 Issue

[The above is an abbreviated, postproduction text of the program released for broadcast the week of July 12-18 in the radio series, "The Bible Speaks to You." Heard internationally over more than 1,000 stations, the weekly programs are prepared and produced by the Christian Science Committee on Publication, 107 Falmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts, U. S. A. 02115.]

RADIO PROGRAM NO. 328 - Choose Life!

Harlan Witham with contributions from Florence Ludgate

[The speaker is Florence Ludgate, who is active in the healing ministry of Christian Science. The questioner is Harlan Witham, an interested inquirer .]

Announcer: When somebody is confronted with a serious illness, what he really wants is a basis for hope, some real assurance that things ran work out. What the individual in such a situation can do for himself is brought out in a heartwarming, practical way in the Bible.
Questioner: A great many people suffering extreme illness feel that they don't have much to live for. And they tend to give up. But what else can they do?
Speaker: They can choose to live and not give up! The importance of doing this is brought out all through the Bible. In Deuteronomy we read (30:19), "Choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." And from Psalms (118:17), "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." Actually, the most important decision anyone confronted with illness can make is to choose to "live, and declare the works of the Lord"—to choose to wake up to the concept of Life as God, pouring forth soundness and completeness to His beloved child through grace and love.
Questioner: But what specifically does this choosing to live mean?
Speaker: It refers to what we're giving consent to when we're confronted with threatening disease. Are we consenting to identifying ourselves as condemned mortals, subject to disease and suffering of every kind? Or are we consenting to identifying ourselves as God has made us—whole and complete?

This consent, based on the understanding of Life as God and the healing that this understanding brings through God's grace and love, is illustrated all through the Bible. I think of that very clear-cut experience of Christ Jesus when a father came to him in the utmost despair because his son was at the point of death. But Jesus didn't give his consent to that verdict. Jesus made a very extraordinary statement. He said (John 4:50), "Thy son liveth." And the account teaches us that the son began to improve at that very hour and was healed.

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