THE BIBLE IN MY LIFE February 19, 2007 Issue

FROM OKLAHOMA TO GALATIA

GLORIA ONYURU

I LIVE IN GALATIA (central Asia Minor). Love it here! I've been here a long time, though not long enough to have met up with St. Paul, who once traveled throughout these parts.

Back in the 50s C.E., Paul wrote a letter to the Christians living in the southern part of Galatia. Today there aren't many Christians left around here—Islam is the major religion of the region. But Christians and Muslims have much in common. Paul set the record straight when he wrote: "There is neither Jew nor Greek [nor, perhaps, Christian nor Muslim], there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28).

Before coming to Galatia, I lived in the United States, where I first encountered the colorful characters of the Bible through bedtime stories my mother read to me. I still have that first storybook, which I brought with me all the way to my new home in Turkey. Scattered through its pages are quotations from the King James Version of the Bible, including the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Beatitudes, which were among the first lessons I learned at the Christian Science Sunday School where my mother enrolled me. On Sundays I took a "real" Bible with me (not just a storybook!), together with a copy of Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

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