Article September 1, 1980 Issue

The Bible tells our story

BENSON A. WISCKOL

Viewing the Bible as if it were one's own personal history is one of many ways of unlocking this great treasure chest of wisdom, understanding, and inspiration. Suppose that instead of lives being looked at through the eyes of a sociologist, anthropologist, or psychologist, they were viewed in terms of the structure of the Bible. Wouldn't we find a more accurate picture of mental and spiritual development?

Bible history illustrates the Hebrew people's ascending understanding of God—of what He is and of what He does. The Scriptures describe some of the evolution of the worship of God. They present a chronicle of the Christ in human thought. It's thrilling to review the ascending concept of God and how it evolved from a Jehovistic, sometimes angry, manlike being in the early books of the Bible to a more advanced spiritual concept in the later books.

Our own experiences may also be seen in terms of a growing understanding of God. The operation of the Christ in world affairs can be seen as a mirror in many ways of the operation of the Christ in our individual lives. A helpful approach is to remove one's concept of time from the Bible. Instead of seeing spiritual development as something that happened in the past, we should view it as a continuing unfoldment. This state of consciousness then becomes a sanctuary where the human coincides with the divine and the spiritual idea is understood, as St. John saw. Mrs. Eddy explains, "John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown in the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in Life and its demonstration,—reducing to human perception and understanding the Life which is God."^{Science and Health, p. 561;}