PERSPECTIVE ON THE NEWS February 18, 1980 Issue

Natural disasters?

In spite of great technological advances in the forecasting and monitoring of natural disasters, mankind often finds itself at the mercy of the earth's forces. In the meantime, people continue to build their homes on flood plains, their skyscrapers over geological faults, and their towns on coastal areas regularly visited by hurricanes.

Although accounts of natural forces being tamed through spiritual power are scattered through the Bible, they are regarded by some as symbolic and mythical. The healing of illness by patriarch, prophet, and Christ Jesus has sometimes been viewed in much the same way, although many look on such healings as miraculous occurrences—violations of natural law and scientific method.

Christian Science, however, shows that the healing work of Christ Jesus, far from being imaginary or miraculous, represents the action of the spiritual laws that sustain the universe, overruling the patterns of mortal belief termed natural law. Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health, "The central fact of the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power."^{Science and Health, p. 131;} Jesus' works show that this superiority is just as emphatic in stilling a tempest as in healing a fever.