Westside Church

September 07, 2010 by Pastor Jeremiah

The famed Physicist and writer, Stephen Hawking, has created a fire storm in the media with his new book “the Grand Design.”  In it, Hawking writes, “Because there are laws such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself out of nothing. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going."  While this is disappointing news for a person of faith such as myself, Hawking’s publishers couldn’t be happier.  It’s crazy statements like these that sell books.

Before now, Hawking was on the fence when it came to the divine inspiration of the universe.  He’s quoted as saying it may, or may not have been the result of God.  Now, he’s certain.  What’s to account for this sudden shift from agnosticism to atheism?  Apparently, it’s our ever expanding understanding of just how large the universe is that has convinced him.  While Hawking readily admits that there are many scientific discoveries that are “odd” and “difficult” to explain without accepting that God exists, he explains this all away with this simple mathematical formula.  Are you ready for this? He says: there are 100 + billions of universes and, out of these billions, one was bound to come up fine-tuned for life.

I’m no physicist, but I’m not that impressed with Hawking’s theory.  Are you ready to stake your eternity on a roll of the dice like that?  But Hawking doesn’t stop with dismissing the existence of God.  He’s ready to apply the reversal of this formula to prove the existence of E.T.  Case in point, on April 25, 2010 he stated in a story that ran in the London Times that since there are a 100+ billion galaxies in the universe it’s highly likely that life exists out there beyond the life on earth. He’s quoted as saying, “To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational.”

Ok, I loved Mr. Hawking’s cameo role in the Simpsons, but I’ve lost some respect for the man. How is belief in aliens justified as rational by the very same formula that proposes faith in God is irrational?  It’s just not rational Stephen.  What’s more perplexing to me is why Hawking would want to jump ship into the world of cold and heartless atheism.  It’s the compassion flowing through the belief that every life is sacred that has given him a chance in life.  If life is no longer sacred, but rather a frantic battle for self-preservation, would we maintain our efforts to ease the suffering of those facing life threatening disease and illness?  As it stands, his life is of inestimable value, after all Jesus died for Stephen Hawking just as he died for you and me.