THE Bible is beloved as a compendium of religious literature, history, poetry, proverbs, prophecy, allegory, and instruction. However, it has scarcely been considered as a source book for scientific research. Unlike Christian Science, physical sciences are based on evidence gained from the senses. The Bible offers little of this evidence; indeed, its accounts of miracles seem to violate natural law. This may arouse skepticism in the thought of readers with scientific training and suggest that its values are mainly in the spheres of conventional religion and morals. But such a conclusion misses the essential message of the Scriptures.
With the revelation of Christian Science, established on the evidence of spiritual sense, the resources of the Bible as a record of spiritual observation and discovery have begun to unfold. From beginning to end, it teaches fundamental spiritual facts and shows how they are applied in the crucible of human experience. It tells of far-sighted intuitions and scientific prophecies and of triumphant deeds which sprang from them.
We have only begun to apprehend and assimilate its teachings in their Science. For example, the departure of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees was only one of many thousands of journeys undertaken through the ages, but it differed from all the others because Abraham's assured faith in God led him to outstanding spiritual advancement and perception.
As this insight deepened through the experiences of his descendants, it led Moses to accept the charge of leading his enslaved people from thralldom in mighty Egypt, across the Red Sea on dry land, through the desert, to a land where they became a great nation. For this he used the moral power which was later crystallized in the Ten Commandments. The spiritually scientific thinker traces the development of the moral law into the Decalogue and its dynamic consequences on the progress of the Hebrews to bring its liberation and fulfillment to humanity today. These examples suggest the depth of the Scriptural storehouse of data for our times.
The culmination of the Bible record of spiritual progress lies in the mighty career of Christ Jesus. By means of his full reliance on God, Spirit, he healed many seemingly hopeless ailments and injuries. He effected the fundamental regeneration of sinners, that is, of those who were led away from correct thinking by the deceit of willfulness. He fed multitudes when material resources appeared totally inadequate. Finally, he showed death to be powerless by raising others from death and, after he allowed his enemies to crucify him, by returning in the flesh to his disciples.
If this astonishing record is true, either his triumphs were miraculous, supernatural, effected by the will of an inscrutable deity or else they were the consequence of divine law operating then as it does now. Christian Science demonstrates that Jesus' healing works are indeed repeatable, showing that they are the most important and instructive scientific achievements in history. The Scriptures are truly a veritable mine of graphic facts awaiting scientific analysis, development, and application.
After the early successes of Christianity, the essential significance of the Christ-mission was lost in bemusement with outward worship, and the works which the Master had said would "follow them that believe" (Mark 16:17) largely disappeared. He had foretold this in his words (John 9:4), "The night cometh, when no man can work."
So the world slept until, arousing in the dawn of the Reformation, it was prepared for the daystar of Christian Science, discovered by Mrs. Eddy through a spiritual sense of the Scriptures. After the resurgent light had released her from the threat of death supposed to result from an accident, she did not lapse back into conventional living but pursued her research until she restored to humanity the power and glory of Jesus' Christianity in its Science.
Under the marginal heading "Solitary research" she writes in Science and Health (p. 109), "For three years after my discovery, I sought the solution of this problem of Mind-healing, searched the Scriptures and read little else, kept aloof from society, and devoted time and energies to discovering a positive rule."
She continues in the same paragraph, "I knew the Principle of all harmonious Mind-action to be God, and that cures were produced in primitive Christian healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and demonstration." And on the next page she says: "In following these leadings of scientific revelation, the Bible was my only textbook. The Scriptures were illumined; reason and revelation were reconciled, and afterwards the truth of Christian Science was demonstrated." Here is the unique value of the Bible as the source book for absolute scientific research.
To those who may question the validity of the Scriptural accounts of healing, liberation, protection, blessing, and resurrection, Christian Science says: "Come and see! Healings on the Scriptural basis and with the Scriptural method are occurring daily. You can see for yourself that they are indeed real and actual." A prime requisite of the scientific method is that any observation must be repeatable by other workers with the same results; such verification is multiplied daily in Christian Science healing.
The Christian Science textbook, from which the preceding quotations were taken, is literally the key to the Scriptures. With this key, the student has access to the treasures of spiritual data. So complete is the recording of the communications of spiritual sense to the human consciousness that the first tenet of Christian Science reads (ibid., p. 497), "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life."
In the Quarterly the Lesson-Sermons, provided for each week of the year, introduce the student to systematic daily study of the Bible. Correlative passages from the Christian Science textbook elucidate the spiritual import of the Scriptural selections and open thought to the divine message therein. As the student discovers the value of Scriptural research and its beneficial effects in his experience, he extends his study beyond the brief passages included in the lesson.
In Christian Science Sunday Schools these lessons, with specific study of the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation from the textbook, form a solid foundation for the comprehension of divine Science.
Because physical sciences, founded on the testimony of the material senses, are limited and temporal—in accordance with the nature of this testimony—absolute and limitless Science must be based on spiritual evidence alone. The Scriptures are the principal and sufficient record of this evidence. Therefore the Holy Bible, with its promises and revelations, is the most important scientific document ever written. The world is awakening to its importance through the explanations of Christian Science. This awakening must spread until the prophecy of Habakkuk is fulfilled (2: 14), "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."
