Have you ever tried to pray using passages or ideas from the Bible, or tried to study Science and Health, while struggling with the suggestion that these are "just words" devoid of peace, love, hope, or power? Then read on.
Certainly there can be such a thing as empty words. Words can be spoken by rote, can be spoken hypocritically, or even dishonestly. But is the very Word of God "just words"? What of Christ Jesus' teachings? Are they "just words"? Are Paul's letters "just words"? Are Isaiah's prophecies "just words"? And is Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science, "just words"?
It helps to realize where these suggestions are coming from. Who or what is it that would cause us to think that the Word of God is somehow not effective when we need it, that it is not powerful enough to heal us, that it is unable to make itself felt as the presence of perfect Love? Don't these suggestions come from what Paul called "the carnal mind," what Mary Baker Eddy called "mortal mind" or "error," and what people often call "the devil"? Jesus called the devil "a liar, and the father of it." John 8:44. Will we listen to a liar? Paul wrote that "the carnal mind is enmity against God." Rom. 8:7. Or, as J. B. Phillips translates,"...the carnal attitude is inevitably opposed to the purpose of God ...." If the purpose of God's Word is to strengthen, inspire, comfort, and heal us, wouldn't opposition to that purpose suggest that His Word can't help us because it is "just words"?
