Editorial September 24, 1984 Issue

The King James Bible: its relevance today

CAROLYN B. SWAN

An eleven-year-old girl, heartbroken at the passing of her father, finds comfort at his funeral when the Protestant minister reads from the Bible: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." ^{Rev. 21:3, 4.}

Long afterward, the girl keeps a marker in her Bible so she can return to that passage to renew the heavenly comfort she first felt when the words were read, and to pray that someday the prophecy in those words will come to pass. Later she begins to perceive its fulfillment in some degree when she learns in Christian Science that heaven is harmony, demonstrable here and now. Realizing the spiritual unity and inseparability of God and His likeness, man, by living more closely in accord with God, she is finally healed of her sense of loss.

A businessman, concerned over a difficult assignment, finds strength by pondering that "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." ^{II Tim. 1:7.} The spiritual understanding he has gained through lifelong study of Christian Science helps him glean from this sentence the truth that fear cannot blight honest accomplishment, and that all involved can express only the might, love, and wisdom of the one Mind, God. And so it proves. The work is successfully completed, and he receives commendation for his part in it.