HOST: Children who've never ridden on a train talk with knowledge these days about possible flights to the moon. Exploration of space fires the imagination of people everywhere. But it also raises some deep questions.

For centuries many devout people have cherished a three-story picture of the universe. On the top floor was heaven, hell was in the cellar, and the earth was in between. Today the roar of rockets is shattering this picture. For centuries people believed the earth was the center of the universe. Then they learned that our planet is only a small spot in the vast system of the universe. Now they hear we may find planets inhabited by people perhaps far more advanced than our own.

People know that flights of rockets and satellites haven't found angels or other supernatural beings in outer space. They recall the Russian comment about heaven, "We sent the astronaut Titov up there and he looked all over and didn't see it anywhere."

This is a time of deep questioning. I'll get right to the point: Do space-age discoveries destroy the basis for belief in God?

SPEAKER: Not at all. What's being questioned by these discoveries is a physical, one-planet God—a physical heaven, physical angels, physical hell. Actually people of many faiths have already rejected this physical view of Deity. Whether they know it or not, they're looking for an understanding of God that doesn't rest on the physical senses.

HOST: Where can they find what they're looking for?

SPEAKER: A good place to look is in the Bible. Search honestly for the spiritual meaning of what we read there, and we find an explanation of God that goes deeper than material appearances:

HOST: But what about the person who says: "There's no visible evidence of God. Does God really exist?"

SPEAKER: A physical scientist doing; space research isn't confined just to the material appearances. He can't touch such things as cosmic rays or magnetic fields with his hands or see them with his eyes. But he doesn't doubt their existence. Many thoughtful people are dissatisfied with a one-planet concept of God. But the solution isn't to deny the existence of God! Through spiritual understanding we can know the unseen but ever-present Supreme Being, the universal, in-finile cause and creator.

Paul said, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God...because they are spiritually discerned." To the Christian Scientist this is a warning that God cannot be understood through the physical senses. He isn't in fire or stars or flowers or flesh. But you can understand God through spiritual sense, spiritual discernment. God is Spirit, as Jesus said. Spirit can't be confined to some far-off spot called heaven, nor can it be fenced out of a place called hell. Spirit must be everywhere, fill all space. Actually heaven and hell are states of consciousness, not places.

HOST: Getting back to your illustration, it's true the researcher works with things he can't touch, such as mathematical laws. But he feels he can know them, see their effect. People often ask, "Can we really know God in a tangible way?"

SPEAKER: Of course we can. Christ Jesus proved that. Everyone can know and experience the intelligence of divine Mind, the giving of divine Love, the power of infinite Spirit, just as the Saviour did. But this isn't an intellectual process. We know God through spiritual sense. And the fruits of this understanding become evident in our lives outwardly.

The explanation of God given by Mary Baker Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" has been very helpful to many people Here are a few significant passages. She defines God as, "The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence" (p. 587). And she says further (p. 331), "He fills all space, and it is impossible to conceive of such omnipresence and individuality except as infinite Spirit or Mind."

We begin to feel and know God as we cultivate Godlike qualities, such as love, tenderness, patience, spiritual-mindedness. Actually these already belong to man, to each one of us as the spiritual likeness of God.

A spiritual understanding of God gives us a more spiritual view of man as God's expression. It shows us that neither evil nor destruction is part of God's creation. A spiritual understanding of God transforms our thinking. It frees us from the limitations, the discords, which result from an earth-bound, mortal view of God and man.

We have a practical illustration here of what happens as we put off a physical view of God and man. Please tell us the experience of the man from California.

HOST: He was a devout Christian, but his concept of God was very limited, very physical. He thought of God as stern, as a person sitting on a throne in a place called heaven.

For two years he'd suffered from stomach and kidney ailments. He'd spent time in a hospital and later in a well-known clinic. The kidney condition seemed to be cured, but he followed a strict diet for the stomach trouble. One day he had lunch with a business friend who noticed his fear of food. The friend knew of Christian Science and said he was sure he could be healed. As a result the man agreed to visit a Christian Science practitioner.

The practitioner talked with him about God, explained that God is divine Love, present everywhere, and that man is the spiritual likeness of God.

The man took up the study of Christian Science. He lost all fear of food, ate normally, and was completely healed of the stomach condition. Sometime later, the kidney trouble returned. He asked a Christian Science practitioner to help him through prayer. She called his attention to the statement in Science and Health which says (p. 560), "The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man."

Through further earnest prayer and study he gained a deeper understanding of God and man. He was completely healed. These two healings took place over twenty years ago. They have been permanent. He rejoices in the clearer understanding he has gained of the infinite nature of God and His power and of the presence of the kingdom of heaven everywhere.