Articles

IN A YEAR WHEN THE NEWS has been filled with growing uncertainty about the economy, concern about international affairs, and intensifying political debate, The Christian Science Monitor has touched more readers with its thoughtful, balanced journalism than at any point in its history. Having launched its multiplatform strategy less than two years ago, the Monitor's online edition, CSMonitor.

I HAD GROWN UP as a Roman Catholic, but during my college years, I prayed to be shown a system that could help me heal just as Jesus did. At an open forum in college one day, I asked a clergyman why he and other clergymen didn't heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, and raise the dead as Jesus commanded his followers? Some of the students at the gathering were pleased with the question and wanted to hear the answer.

DURING THE SUMMER before my last year of college, I loved my job where I got to play basketball with kids all day. This is where the idea first came to me that I really would love to play the sport that was once my first love—again.

WHEN A CLOSE family member had found it hard to fall pregnant, she felt helpless, and there were monthly disappointments and bitter tears. For my own peace, I began to pray to get a better understanding of God as Life and Love (two names for God found in the Bible).

RAISED IN A BIBLE-BASED, mainstream Protestant church before I became a Christian Scientist, I cherish the common bond between Christians: love for God's Word. In Christian Science, the very first tenet emphatically states the central importance of the Bible: "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life" ( Science and Health, p.

WE SYNCHRONIZE OUR WATCHES, synchronize our iPods to our computers, and synchronize our DVRs to record TV shows. Yet, beyond the use of these gadgets, is a deeper spiritual concept of synchronicity that is of even greater value to humanity.

WHEN GOD TOLD JONAH TO GO to the wicked citizens of Nineveh and preach the words that God would give him so they would reform (see Jonah 1:1, 2), he resisted—much as many might do today if told to go preach reform to drug warlords. In tune with the morality of his times, Jonah felt that anyone who did not worship God as the Hebrews did should be destroyed.

MOST PEOPLE YEARN TO HAVE DIRECTION IN THEIR LIVES, the feeling that they are working toward a worthwhile goal—that they have a mission. They may spend years in the quest for answers to questions like: "What should I be doing with my life?" and "Where am I going?" Some seek answers through employment, many through self-help books, and others through counseling.

OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS I've enjoyed doing an in-depth study of the Bible. One of the things that led me to this study is that I was wondering what made some of the individual people of the Bible so great.

WHAT AN EXPANDING ADVENTURE it can be to catch glimpses of the radiant womanhood of God that reveals "the highest ideal of Love"! Isn't it wonderful that not one of us—either man or woman—is defined by the Eve-type mentality put forth in Genesis 2 in the Bible? Eve is not just a woman—she represents a state of thought that is vulnerable to the suggestions of "the serpent"—of being incomplete, separate from God, the one Mind. Lacking divine wisdom, this mental state naively believes what it sees with the material senses and is bolstered by the serpent's promise—being made wise by believing that both evil and good comprise all that is real.