Stephen Hawking, the eminent British theoretical physicist says in his new book that God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an "inevitable consequence of the laws of physics". In his previous writings Hawking was careful not to tread to harshly on the doctrines of the church and it's doctrine of God as the Ultimate Cause. He warned that the theory was incomplete. Hawkings surety and dismissal of God as Ultimate Cause and Creator is shocking in that he has not advanced the theory of the "Big Bang" cosmology much farther than in his previous works. certainly , not to completion.
"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," Hawking wrote. So how can a thinking Christ follower hold to the doctrine of creation?
1. Hawking, like Sagan and many along side him- does not explain where things came from, only how that which is could have come to be. His elaborate explanations of theory, while fascinating, are incomplete. Where did the universe come from? Like many before him, he treads the path of shoulder shruggers and best-guessers and claims the universe is all that ever was! In effect, the universe is eternal (though existing in many forms over time).
2. Hawking speaks of spontaneous creation as if he has seen it. But of course, no one has seen this happen and never will. just take a moment and think of all the other things that have spontaneously created over time... ur, I guess that is a short list of zero isn't it. (the thing in the back of the fridge was already something before it became the fuzzy stuff that it is now!)
3. This is based upon multiverse theory. This is the theory that there are many universes and we just happen by coincidence to occupy the one-in-a-billion universe that could support life. Of course, there is no evidence of these supposedly plentiful universes out there. The argument basically says that there must be billions of attempts to make universes that are all arranged differently and (licky us!) we get to be the ones who popped out of the primordial soup! So your life is meaningless- a cosmic accident without purpose. Enjoy! Even so, the multiverse may have been God's idea in the first place! listen to Dr. Don Pages "Does God love the Multiverse?"
4. And what of this gravitational phenomina? Are we to conclude that the gravitational rate is random? Check this out The precision of gravity is so amazing that I don't understand how anyone with half a brain could believe otherwise. And what of other fine tuning? Nathan Schneider of Seed magazine writes, "Scientists now recognize that if space were expanding at a slightly different speed, or if the strong nuclear force were just a little off, our universe would be a hydrogen mush incapable of supporting life. The chances that the cosmic conditions needed for even a single living cell would come about in a random toss-up are astonishingly low, often called the 'fine tuning problem.'" Certainly Hawking must see that? Coincidence? Mistake?
5. Ultimately, we must determine what and who to trust. Hawking is a brilliant and compelling mind but God is eternal and all knowing. Why would we trust anyone but God? Hawking is a flawed and fallable human. And if history of science tells us anything his writings, like his most recent opinion will change. But there is one that never has to adjust his theory... he is the Truth and the Way.
In the beginning God...
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