Article September 19, 1988 Issue

Perseverance and the senses

We can break through to the spiritual meaning of God's Word, and the breakthrough brings healing.

Lois B. Egeli

In reading the Bible have you ever felt that the phrases and sentences seemed to be just so many words? I've found that as I continue to read with an open thought—to listen—the true, fresh, spiritual meaning breaks through the dullness of limited thinking or material-mindedness. Then I cling to the spiritual sense with satisfying and healing results. Perseverance has its rewards!

The Christian Science Journal once reported what Mrs. Eddy said, in substance, in a sermon: "She affirmed that the Scriptures cannot properly be interpreted in a literal way. The truths they teach must be spiritually discerned, before their message can be borne fully to our minds and hearts. That there is a dual meaning to every Biblical passage, the most eminent divines of the world have concluded; and to get at the highest, or metaphysical, it is necessary rightly to read what the inspired writers left for our spiritual instruction."^{ Found in Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 169.}

I must have read the Biblical account of Christ Jesus' healing of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda^{ See John 5:1–14 .} dozens of times before a much richer perception of that incident came to me one day. The account mentions that the pool had five porches. Each time I read the story, the mention of porches seemed irrelevant, so I would hasten to read on. But one time it dawned on me that just as there were five porches, there are also five physical senses.

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