I John helps at exam time.

As a Christian Scientist, one is necessarily a student - always learning, and loving it!

But what if the learning stagnates; you reach an impasse, or feel you are on a plateau? Help is right there in the Bible.

One student found I John 2:20 a great help. Writing in the May 10, 1999 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel, Charles Edward Langton shares how it helped him, in his article called "Clear Thinking At Exam Time". https://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/1999/5/101-19/clear-thinking-at-exam-time

The passage is this: "... ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things" (I John 2:20).

He writes that once he remembered this passage, "the ideas I needed flowed into thought in an orderly manner. I successfully completed the exam and the degree program."

Isn't the Bible wonderful?

Julie Swannell

Nancy Astor from the Smithsonian

NEWS FLASH!

Book club friends,

We have just received a lovely message from our colleague Colleen Moore in New Orleans.  The clip is just 4 minutes long and it's worth sharing! 

Colleen writes: 

It is always a treat to me when the public makes a connection between Christian Science and an historical figure. The following video from the Smithsonian Channel popped up on my Facebook stream this morning. It was about the British Parliament’s first female member, but what was so special was how the trailer began. Take a look here:

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/videos/the-amazing-rise-of-parliaments-first-female-member/50080

Sincerely,

Colleen C. Moore

Webmaster

www.christianscienceneworleans.org

www.christiansciencelouisiana.com

Letters from John the beloved disciple

Some thoughts about the authorship of the Gospel of John and these three letters. 

Science and Health, our inspired textbook, speaks of “the beloved disciple...in one of his epistles {saying] 'God is love'”. (See S&H 319:32-1.) Now I have been taught that inspiration is higher than scholarship, so I am assured that indeed John the apostle did write these books of the Bible.*

II and III John are so small one wonders how they came to be included in the New Testament. John's theme “let us love one another” is repeated. And we are warned to guard our thinking - to make sure we are abiding in the teaching of Christ, and take care who we associate with.

In both of these little letters, John speaks of having lots to say, but not wanting to say it with pen and paper – he hopes to come to speak with the congregation face to face (II John 12).

III John takes up truth as his main topic. He loves to hear that his children are “walking in the truth" (verse 4). 

We trust that indeed John was able to come and visit. There were various things to be sorted out – Diotrephes for instance “who does not acknowledge our authority” (III John 9, NRSV).

Joyce Voysey

* Ed. Readers will be interested to learn what modern scholarship is saying, e.g. https://bible.org has a fascinating article by W. Hall Harris III (Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary) which examines historical evidence which might offer clues as to both writer and recipient of these famous letters. Harris suggests that there is nothing to contradict the long-held belief that it was John the beloved disciple who authored these letters. See 

https://bible.org/seriespage/2-background-and-setting-1-john.