Stephen W. Hawking, the celebrated professor at Cambridge, stated, "If we find the answer to [why we and the universe exist], it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would know the mind of God." A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam Books, 1988), p. 175 .
To "know the mind of God," or to search for an understanding of ultimate reality, has been the quest of much of mankind. Conventional scientific materialism and commonly accepted methods of reason based on human empiricism have expanded knowledge immeasurably. But could there be more to understanding reality than just an accumulation of knowledge?
In stark contrast to conventional scientific methods, the Christianly scientific approach begins with divine Spirit, or God, as the source of ultimate understanding. A search for understanding apart from the material sense is nothing new. All the way back in the Old Testament of the Bible, when God asked Solomon what God should give him, Solomon acknowledged his own human inadequacy to lead God's people and answered, "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart." I Kings 3:9. Solomon realized that the most substantial thing he could ask for was the ability to understand, and to judge correctly. And he recognized God as the source of this ability.
