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September 2nd, 2010
12:18 PM ET
God didn't create universe, Stephen Hawking arguesGod did not create the universe, world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book that aims to banish a divine creator from physics. Hawking says in his book "The Grand Design" that, given the existence of gravity, "the universe can and will create itself from nothing," according to an excerpt published Thursday in The Times of London. "Spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," he writes in the excerpt. "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper [fuse] and set the universe going," he writes. His book - as the title suggests - is an attempt to answer "the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything," he writes, quoting Douglas Adams' cult science fiction romp, "The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy." He co-wrote the book with science writer Leonard Mlodinow. His answer is "M-theory," which, he says, posits 11 space-time dimensions, "vibrating strings, ... point particles, two-dimensional membranes, three-dimensional blobs and other objects that are more difficult to picture and occupy even more dimensions of space." He doesn't explain much of that in the excerpt, which is the introduction to the book. But he says he understands the feeling of the great English scientist SIr Isaac Newton that God did "create" and "conserve" order in the universe. It was the discovery of other solar systems outside our own, in 1992, that undercut a key idea of Newton's - that our world was so uniquely designed to be comfortable for human life that some divine creator must have been responsible. But, Hawking argues, if there are untold numbers of planets in the galaxy, it's less remarkable that there's one with conditions for human life. And, indeed, he argues, any form of intelligent life that evolves anywhere will automatically find that it lives somewhere suitable for it. From there he introduces the idea of multiple universes, saying that if there are many universes, one will have laws of physics like ours - and in such a universe, something not only can, but must, arise from nothing. Therefore, he concludes, there's no need for God to explain it. But some of Hawking's Cambridge colleagues said the physicist has missed the point. "The 'god' that Stephen Hawking is trying to debunk is not the creator God of the Abrahamic faiths who really is the ultimate explanation for why there is something rather than nothing," said Denis Alexander. "Hawking's god is a god-of-the-gaps used to plug present gaps in our scientific knowledge. "Science provides us with a wonderful narrative as to how [existence] may happen, but theology addresses the meaning of the narrative," said Alexander, director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. And Fraser Watts, an Anglican priest and Cambridge expert in the history of science, said that it's not the existence of the universe that proves the existence of God. But, he said, "a creator God provides a reasonable and credible explanation of why there is a universe, and ... it is somewhat more likely that there is a God than that there is not. That view is not undermined by what Hawking has said." Hawking's book will be published on September 7 in the United States and September 9 in the United Kingdom. |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Why? Why try to reason with people who believe in invisible cloud beings? Come on people. If there was absolute proof that god didn't exist they would still believe in him/her/it. Of course you can't prove a negative. You can't prove the Easter Bunny isn't real either. I have tried to argue with them myself and I have given up. They all remind me of a line from Robin Williams, "reality, wow, what a concept!"
Hope for mankind lies in reason and hopefully some day all religion will be a thing of the past and we can have some peace. The world would be better for it. I doubt it will happen anytime soon, however. Until then we're stuck with religious wars, prejudices, the slowing of progress and the celebration of ignorance.
But, I like the celebration of ignorance. Sarah Palin, Jessica Simpson, Jersey Shore.... What will we do for comedic inspiration without believers?
"the universe can and will create itself from nothing" O.K., fair enough. But who created the nothing?
Gee, there isn't a cure for cancer, now who created this non-cure? Is somebody going to jump up and lay claim for there not being a cure? I really don't get your argument.
I would rephrase to ask "who created the template of existence?"
who created the nothing? who created the template?
I agree with NL neither question makes sense. argument ad ingnoratum ad infinitum? (sp?)
Is it just me or is this brilliant scientist basing his disbelief in a creator on an overly-simplistic perspective of God? He says that the fact that our solar system is not unique is evidence that the Abrahamic faiths are flawed since they depend on the narrative that life on THIS earth is unique. However, the Abrahamic books of scripture are simply narratives of God's dealings with this earth but do not in any way rule out the possibility that God created life on other planets. In fact, some followers of the Abrahamic tradition believe just that, that not only life forms, but humans, or beings very similar to humans, do exist in great number around the universe. Yet this very concept is dismissed as hokey, even though (or perhaps because) it blows a wide hole in Hawkin's argument against God, nevermind that most sci-fi writers portray intelligent humanoid life as the universal norm. Thus, this theological concept is perfectly compatible with science as well as pop culture devoted to extraterrestrialism.
The brighter science shines it's light the deeper into the corners of darkness must faith jump.
When we have contact with another species, and they describe how they too believe in our God, then you'd have evidence that maybe, just maybe, we're being closed-minded on this, but until then we can only speculate on alien species and what they might believe in. Hopefully crop circles aren't their version of Watchtower tracts left in the door jam. Of course, if they said it was all hokey too you'd just say they haven't looked hard enough too, right?
Sci-fi isn't about portraying other species correctly; it's about seeing ourselves in the struggles of a being outside of ourselves. Aliens are usually humanoid because the writers don't want to distract from the story by taxing the imagination, like how God "walks" in the Garden, and because applying only a few rubber bumps on an actor is usually all that a production can afford in special effects. CGI is beginning to give us more alien looking aliens, and the next generation won't get your argument at all.
Belief in God and Jesus Christ are based on faith and spiritually discerned, rather than physical evidence. Although the Word of God says that we are without excuse when we see what was created. How did gravity decide to be beautiful? You know you are a believer if you have the Holy Spirit.
Jesus literally came to your door?
Someone should tell the 7th Day Adventists that they can stop waiting.
The Mormons should feel good that He's in the USA, just like Joe Smith said.
Having been an atheist once upon a time (and even making converts to the same), I feel it is necessar to mention that all bets are off when Jesus Himself shows up as He did in my case. Funny, how things always require a cause and effect relationship untl we get back to the beginning. Then we resort to magic or some other equally inane cause, ignoring the only one that is equal to the occasion, but then that is as is often said, unthinkable. I had it all down pat: the ethical, empirical, rational. Poor believers, they were helpless before my devestating attacks on their namby pamby religion...until Jesus Himself showed up knocking at my door. Well, of course, I ran. What can an embarrassed unbeliever do, but then He caught me and opened a door to look at this matter more closely and, like C.S. Lewis, I WAS SURPRISED, INDEED, BY JOY. I didn't know such a thing existed. Seems that the upper story is not quite so limited by our inability to conceive how the wholly OTHER might enter into our realm.
Obviously you weren't not praying hard enough...
@jJim
I do not believe that you ever had anything "down pat" as an "atheist". You don't even seem to have arguing down pat.
It is the biggest hole in your post.
In fact, I don't believe you were ever an "atheist" at all and are just trying to BS everybody.
My reason? You don't express yourself in a way that I would associate with an ex-atheist who "had it all down pat".
Your post is a transparent attempt at this. Your actions are reprehensible and your post is an obvious fraud.
Fast Eddie, Where's your proof that Jim's conversion was a fraud? Is it just because he doesn't express himself in a way you would associate with an ex-atheist with? The atheists are always whining about not having proof. Well sir, where's yours?
@Keith
I did not say that I believed his "conversion" to be a fraud. Where's your proof that I ever said that? My post is right there a little further up the page. I suggest you read it again.
Faith is the emotion that precedes rationality.
It is nothing short of intellectual apathy.
The world would be a better place if more humans were capable of thinking beyond what they're feeling.
I haven't read every post, so I'm generalizing here. I think a majority of you miss the point entirely. It is all about a thing called 'Faith'. There is no proof, nor is there any proof required. If there was proof, we would not need Faith. For me God is real and Jesus is our Savior. In that I have Faith and through that life is given purpose. To believe that we simply exist and have manifested over time through thoughtless and pointless, natural/accidental creation is absurd. There is no meaning to existence if this is the case. eg. if we came from apes, why are there still apes? What, some chose not to evolve? If your belief system revolves around proof and science I would urge you to take another look at history and how many times science has been wrong or changed it's mind/findings etc. You put faith in man and not God? That is pure arrogance. If you need scientific proof of God, you will not find it. Anyone can believe in something they can see, feel, smell or whatever. To believe in something, to have Faith in something, that is LOVE, and that is the real key to life. My heart goes out to those of you who don't have any faith, for I believe you haven't really lived. Your life is full of accidental and coincidental events, that simply happened for no purpose and have no real meaning. Yes, there are plenty of crack-pot Christians out there. There are just as many crack-pot athiests out there and there are lots of crack-pot scientists out there. If you haven't bothered to read the Bible or do any real research into God or Jesus etc. I would urge you to read "The Shack" by William P. Young. I wold also urge you to sit down some time and feel what's in your own heart. Don't rationalize, study or dissect yourself. What do you feel? God is in all of us. What a wonderful feeling!!!! FAITH...you can't buy it, you can't steal it and a few atoms colliding can't create it. Trust your gut, God is real and you know it. The proof is in your Spirit, not in science. To think we know everything, especially about creation, is simply laughable.
"To believe ... natural/accidental creation is absurd. ... eg. if we came from apes, why are there still apes?"
First, all animals are 'equally' evolved, in the sense that they have been influenced by evolutionary processes over the same period of time.
Second, not all animals take the same evolutionary path. For example, some group of man-ape-like animals a long time ago ended up on the path more toward man and some other group of the same man-ape-like species ended up on the path more toward ape.
Similarly, early in it's history Americans (US citizens) came from the British, so why are there still British?
"My heart goes out to those of you who don't have any faith, for I believe you haven't really lived."
I appreciate the thought but it is misplaced. In one sense faith represents an absence of thought and as, I think, Plato/Socrates said, a life unexamined is not worth living.
@Nonimus
So if someone were to prove to you that they have thought about their faith, examined it, and come to the conclusion that their faith is valid for them in their perspective, would you give them more credence than some dogmatic fanatic?
Just wonderin'
@Kate,
Simple answer... Yes.
@Normon
An honest answer ... ummm, doesn't an honest answer count as heresy around here?
Just sayin'
There is an intelligence that I have experienced directly in my prayers and meditation that responds with love and generosity. Using the Universal Laws established by this intelligence, I always receive answers. If a person has not had direct experience with God, I can't explain it to them. If they have, there is no need to.
http://www.debhabr.com
Very well put, Deb. There is a word that I learned from C.S. Lewis: the Numinous. I think I have experienced the same kind of thing as you. And you're right. If you hadn't experienced such a thing, I wouldn't even attempt to explain.
What I believe the professor is saying is that the laws of physics provide the way for the universe to create itself spontaneously out of nothing. It didn't require God to do so. But I don't believe he is suggesting that God didn't create the laws of physics. Trying to prove or disprove the existence of God is an exercise in futility. Either you believe or you don't. But if there is a God, he has clearly thought of everything, including the physics needed to create a universe inhabited by intelligent beings.
The Bible was miraculously written. The Bible was written over a 1,500 year period by 40 different men as God's Holy Spirit breathed the very words written. There is NO earthly way possible that so many men (most of whom never met each other), could have written so many different books in different styles that all perfectly merge into one meaningful Book, but with God all things are possible!!!
Here are some prophecies about what is happening today...made HUNDREDS of years ago...
THIS IS TRYING TO BE DONE even as we type!!!
Israel would be partitioned by other nations. (Joel 3:2; Daniel 11:39) this has been a top priority for the United Nations since Israel's statehood. Currently, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and Gaza, have been divided up into Jewish and Palestinian settlements.
Literal Babylon (formerly called Babel) would reemerge in the land of Shinar – known today as Iraq. (Zechariah 5:11; Genesis 10:10; Genesis 11:1-9; Isaiah 13) Saddam Hussein spent over 20 years and many hundreds of millions of dollars in rebuilding the city of Babylon.
The Euphrates River would be dried up. (Revelation 16:12) Today, the massive Ataturk Dam in Turkey, completed in 1990, can hold back the Euphrates to a trickle.
Asia (the kings from the east) would be capable of deploying a 200 million man army during earth's final days. (Revelation 9:14-16; 16:12) Bear in mind, in Jesus's day, there were only an estimated 170 to 400 million people on the entire planet.
The possession of Jerusalem would be at the center of international turmoil. (Zechariah 12:3) Almost daily the world news reports on the conflict over Jerusalem.
These are just a FEW...just watch the news and remember what God said would happen....Gods Word is HIS...
I am sending this in 2 seperate comment forms...seems what I wrote earlier was too long...so here goes....
David and all...*S*..I have great confidence ( FAITH) that the Bible is Gods word revealed to men by HIM to write and kept from being destroyed by HIM..I have some reasons to back up this confidence, and here's a few reasons. First of all it CLAIMS to be GODS Word...
This is long...but, you asked if I had any proof...it took time to put this together...I hope you read what I think is proof to non believers...however, I simply have great confidence that it is. I am amazed however at what is happening politically goes along with what Gods Word predicted..many years ago....
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is PROFITABLE for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" —2nd Timothy 3:16 ( I think someone here said the writers made a profit from the book...and maybe, but not the kind of profit you think)
Archaeology is in agreement with the Word of God. Not one spadeful of dirt has ever been uncovered to disprove the Word of God. In fact, many Archaeological expeditions have provided substantial evidence in support of Biblical claims. We don't need Archeology to prove the Bible, the Bible is evidence enough by itself. Yet, here are more proofs if you need them.
The Bible is scientifically accurate. Isaiah 40:22 declares that the earth is round. Leviticus 17:11 declares that the life is in the blood. For centuries doctors foolishly drained the blood out of their patients resulting in certain death. The Bible also mentions astronomy, Job 9:9 mentions Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades's. Proverb 17:22 teaches that good health is directly linked to being happy. Psychiatrists offices are overflowing today with the stressed out people. The Bible teaches that happiness can only come from being saved and living for the Truth of God's Word. That's where our true happiness comes from..having a personal relationship with our creator, GOD. m( more following)
alpha ott-
You believe because the bible claims to be true. Now, would you accept a similar claim from anything else? If Tide laundry detergent claimed that it was the only soap that could clean your clothes, but you noticed that all the other brands also cleaned clothes, would you still take Tide's word on it? Other books also claim to be God's word. Is every book that makes this claim automatically true?
Some archaeology supports events recorded in the bible, but some does not. Watch, or read, The Bible Unearthed. Archaeology has no bearing on the creation of the universe, morality, or the existence of God.
The Bible also claims that pi = 3, that the sky is a firmament, and that all creatures migrated from a central point after a flood that drew waters from underground caverns that simply aren't there. Greek science of the same period was way more accurate.
TTFN
@alpha ott
I am happy..... and i don't believe in 'your god'..... Explain please.....?
Peace.....
In some respects, we do create God in our own image. Such a god inevitably looks like ourselves and is therefore inadequate. Then we try to proove that this god exists or doesn't. This is nothing more that a mind game. Hardly worth the trouble. Maybe Hawking's view of god is as inadequate as mine is. The proof for the existence can only be found in God Herself and would be infinitely above our understanding. If our temperal, finite minds think we have prooved God's existence, we've gotten it wrong.
Still, insisting that God exists at all is a work of our temperal, finite minds. So why can't this basic idea not be completely wrong?
"Still, insisting that God exists at all is a work of our temperal, finite minds. So why can't this basic idea not be completely wrong? "
My thought is that the idea of God's existance does not come from reason or imagination. It is a matter of intuition. Most of humanity has experienced a pull toward God which he cannon explain. I think that this accounts for why God is given so many names, i.e., God, Yahweh, Allah, Zeus, the Great Spirit, so on. Humanity responds to his intuition about God according to his own environment in an attempt to put a face on God.
brad-
Explain the difference between imagination and intuition? A wife imagines her husband is cheating on her but, after it is confirmed with evidence that he is cheating, she tells her girlfriends that it was intuition? Intuition is a word we use to describe feelings that have been proven correct, so where's your proof?
Most of humanity may have felt overwhelmed with what they don't understand, so they labeled it Zeus, YHWH, God, Allah, El, Thor, or Love, or Beauty, or Poetry, or Nature or what have you and if humanity all has put all of these different faces to the same thing why would any Christian insist that their face is the only correct one? Why not just call it the unknown to which science, like Hawking's work, sheds light upon.
Or, is it more important to keep oneself in the dark?
Stephen's statement is a true test to see if people believe in freedom and in particular freedom of speech. Freedom is accepting that there are people who say or do things you would choose to not do yourself.
Freedom of speech protects all of us and allows us to express our opinions freely. Hawking is a scientist with a proven track record of being able to back his statements up with mathematics, observation and other data that other scientists can follow and understand. Here he is expressing a conclusion, and he likely has the science to back it up. Saying that he is just expressing an opinion is like saying Jonas Salk was just expressing an opinion about finding a polio vaccine. Surely scientists have a right to publish peer reviewed conclusions of their work without having to worry about upsetting anyone stuck in the old mode of thinking?
@NL
"....being able to back his statements up with mathematics, observation and other data that other scientists can follow and understand. Here he is expressing a conclusion, and he likely has the science to back it up."
In my view, "observation" is the operative word. While there was simply "nothing", there was no observer available to watch "something" come into existence. Sometimes science is highly speculative.
Science is based upon observation. In my view, when there was only "nothing", no observer yet existed who could witness "nothing" becoming "something". Hawking's view seems as highly speculative as theology.
@ Stumble: I dont' think Hawking's statements are a true test of freedom of speech at all. He hasn't denigrated anyone or called them stupid or evil. He leaves that to the Westboro Baptist Church and Laurie Cardoza Moore.
Brad-
Ever watch CSI? By your criteria anything short of eyewitness testimony should be disallowed in court. The origin of the universe left behind traces, "fingerprints" if you will, and scientists like Hawking can build a logical case for what happened based on these clues.
You're right, science does have limits and all it can do is draw the most likely course of events and causes based on the evidence available, but I'll trust it's conclusions over the speculation that the Judeo-Christian-Muslim creation myth, which runs counter to everything we have evidence for and base our scientific knowledge upon, just happens to be one out of thousands of such myths that is true.
Yall may think i'm crazy, and i will agree but i was at my aunts house and they showed me a picture of her daughter standing infront of a mirror. The picture was dark, you clearly see my cousin in the darkness, but you can see three faces around her. Before yall go trying to make some reason these are not the people to do all kinds of crazy thing with cameras or computers. etc.... It really freaked me out, but no matter what you can't tell me their isn't a soul or ghost unless they tell me i'd been had.
You're gonna think I'm crazy, but I was in my garage and right by where I store some paint cans, I found a family of fairies. I'm not the type to tell stories or fake things. I don't care what anyone says, I believe in fairies. I won't consider any other more logical answer. I know those fairies exist.
@ICEMAN: I do honestly believe there are things we do not understand and experiences that people have that are let's say curious – ghosts, spirits, ufos etc etc. But I don't believe that man's ability to understand those experiences through science is impossible. Following Neil DeGrasse Tyson's idea that science proceeds through technological advancement, we can hope that one day we will have enough technology to confirm or deny the existence of the paranormal at a definitive level. Some say we are already there, and many of these experiences do not hold up to scientific scrutiny. This makes these events a lot like religious experience: evidence based on emotion. That means that these experiences will alway be with with us because it's believers will never discard their belief due to science. Doesn't mean you can't watch the X-Files and enjoy it.
Also humans like to recognize other human faces in lots of circu-mstances. Like seeing the man in the moon. That's why people are always seeing the Virgin Mary in danish, and toast and various other breakfast foods.
@ David: As a member of the Lollipop Council on the Welfare of Fairies, I would like to remind you that we are very strict about to whom we broadcast the existence of our fairy bretheren. Puck be with you.
"Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
They are blind to what they see,
dancing at naught and dancing free,
without even a 'by-your-leave'!
Frogist, make sure you pronounce my name correctly. The letter "P" sounds like an "F"
😀
Dr. Hawking asserts that the Universe would not need God to come to existence. Universal laws such as gravity make it inevitable for the formation and existence of the Universe as we know it. Random combinations and interactions between matter and energy without any form of intelligence or programming, resulted in the creation of our galaxy, our solar system, our planet, the elements, organic compounds, the basic building blocks of life – the DNA and RNA and henceforth different life forms, and ultimately humans with 100 trillion cells and 3 billion DNA base pairs in each cell.
We, humans are very eager to learn through experiments. Let us start an experiment.
Let us put 2000 monkeys in one huge lab. Provide them the basic building blocks of electronics – Silicon, copper, plastic, metals, all required tools and even the machinery to convert them to their higher form. Like, let us give them a silicon wafer fabrication unit, a copper wire manufacturing plant, a plant and the basic building blocks for every component used in a computer. Let us hypothetically put them in the lab for 13.7 billion years. Dr. Hawking, can you tell us if they can produce today’s computers and a Windows operating system running on this machine? What does your mathematics say?
Windows Vista operating system consists of 50 million lines of code produced by 2000 so called ‘intelligent’ minds with a labour of 3 million man-days. There are 666 reported bugs till date. Not to forget, it is a culmination of the evolution of the human mind over a million years, starting with the discovery of fire or rather ‘the controlled use of fire’ as the first sign of human intelligence.
Our civilization, science, medicine, technology is all a culmination of a million years of trials, errors, recording, understanding, discoveries of the laws ingrained in nature, the evolution of the human mind, intelligence and knowledge of nature and the universe, building upon itself.
Today, the collective intelligence of 5 billion human minds is failing to sustain life at home, on planet earth. They are destroying the balance existent on earth since its creation. Our mind, with a million years of ‘intelligent evolution’, is still so stupid that it is ready and eager to destroy, within just a few years, our home and the very nature which has maintained harmony for 4 billion years only by ‘unintelligent random interactions’ as Dr. Hawking understands.
Evolution is so beautiful, that it is poetry in itself. Matter is made of molecules. Molecules have such an organized structure with the nucleus at the centre and electrons revolving around it, governed by laws and equations set by nature. Molecules combine to make compounds. Organic compounds combine to form proteins. Proteins combine, forming DNA and RNA and these combine to form the code and signature of the life form itself. The structures are so beautifully designed that creatures with the most basic intelligence can appreciate the cosmic intelligence and even the beauty evident in the tiniest and the largest objects of creation.
Dr. Hawking, the Universe is created out of nothing. Let the collective intelligence of 5 billion people with their knowledge and understanding of the universal laws accumulated over a million years, create a single celled life form, out of nothing.
You want to understand the mind of God. The mind of God is the cosmic intelligence. It is not just the laws that the universe follows. It is ingrained in the interactions of matter and energy. God is not just the mind that created the universe, He is creation himself. He is the singularity that existed 13.7 billion years ago. He is the diversity that exists today. The creator is not separate from the creation.
We can understand the mind of God, but not through the limited resources of our own mind. We can understand it by synchronizing ourselves with the cosmic intelligence. Our saints or the ‘awakened’ ones call it ‘cosmic consciousness ’. They say – ‘We can attain godliness by realizing our consciousness, which is already in sync with the cosmic consciousness ’.
And when we attain consciousness, there shall be no questions left.
Keep Inquiring. Keep discovering.
i like the theory of infinite universe or dimension to say one thing about something is only limited by your individual perception and the energy youre willing to depart with
time and space have no meaning only the fact that we can start there in thought thus giving life to a thing we now or then decided was important
sounds like figure8 no one knows were it started or began
The quoted comments by Hawking are quite frankly ridiculous and if correct make me wonder if his deteriorating condition is now affecting his mind. First off gravity as an explanation for "spontaneous" creation of the Universe from nothing is laughable and unscientific... no mass, no gravity, no silly explanation. Also where is this hubris coming from in the first place? Our knowledge of the Universe is in its' infancy and all the cute little speculations of Dark Matter, Infinite #s of Universes, Space "tapestry" and Multi Dimensions are fantasies until someone can observe and measure something REAL. I mean come on, so-called "theoretical physicists" are beginning to sound more like glorified storytellers than actual scientists.
I personally buy more into the concept of an intelligence, of some sort , behind the order we actually observe in the real world than the fantasies drummed up from computer and mathematical 'models' based more on imagination and ego than anything else.
Mr. Hawkings would have been better off if he had just said the truth, "We don't know."
@Russ2d
You said, "The quoted comments by Hawking are quite frankly ridiculous and if correct make me wonder if his deteriorating condition is now affecting his mind."
I think you are right. A year ago, Hawking was probably 1,000 times smarter than you. Now, because he has deteriorated, he is probably only 999 times smarter than you. Cheers!
All of universe was created for the benefit of we humans on this particular earth. Jesus, God, came here in order to reconcile all of mankind dead and alive to God the father. It doesn't matter what u belive or what u are, or what u have done in the past, present or future, You are forgiven. The line is drawn Do you believe that Jesus is the son of God, the Messiah, that he was raised from the dead and is he your lord and saviour? In other words either you belive or you don't. Jesus is the way the only way to escape damnation. Just ask him to come into heart and watch how he turns your lift around. I am not taking about religion just pure faith in his love for u and me.
How do you know Jesus exists?
@Jesus
You are contradicting yourself again, Jesus. If we are forgiven, how can we be damned "no matter what we believe" as you put it?
A truly merciful God of goodness and love is not to be feared, period. And "He" would definitely not be a fear-monger nor would such a god need to "control" anyone to whom "He" had given free will.
Damnation does not make sense whether we have free will or not. Your argument is invalid.
All of universe was created for the benefit of we humans on this particular earth. Jesus, God, came here in order to reconcile all of mankind dead and alive to God hte father. It doesn't matter waht u belive or what u are, or what u have done in the past, present or future, Youa re forgiven. The line is drawn Do you believ that Jesus is the son of God, the Messiah, that he was raised from the dead and is he your lord and saviour? In other words either you belive or you don't. Jesus is the way the only way to escapre damnation. Just ask him to come into heart and watch how he turns your lifr around. I am not taking about religion just pure faith in his love for u and me.
AMEN, brother!