Creation came 'from nothing,' not God: Stephen Hawking

[kingtheoden]

'Hawking, who is renowned for his work on black holes, said the 1992 discovery of another planet orbiting a star other than the sun makes "the coincidences of our planetary conditions ... far less remarkable and far less compelling as evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings."

That does kind of make me think though.  If there are millions of other planets out there obiting their own suns what relevance with Christianity have for possible inhabitants of such planets?  Christianity would seem to be a home-grown thing which would apply to planet Earth but not across the entire universe.
And if there are no other intelligent beings out there,  it seems like an awful waste of space (as I think Carl Sagan said).

We're making a lot of leaps here.  

First of all, the methodology used to ‘discover’ other planets is rather theoretical.  

Usually, this involves gravitational fluctuation readings.  But if we assume for argument’s sake that the readings are accurate and they are due to the reasons suggested (celestial objects orbiting other stars), we still have the issue of these bodies being rather large and, given our understanding of science, unlikely to produce conditions conducive to life.

Proximity isn’t simply the issue.  Many researchers point to the fact that the Earth is quite a display of coincidences.  

The Moon appears as the same size as the Sun, which is really interesting since this produces eclipses.  But on a more functional level, the tides resulting from the interaction of the Moon and Earth are responsible for many aspects of life.  

Just supposing for a moment that there are other intelligent, sentient beings in the universe, this would not automatically disprove the Faith as many like to claim.  These could be other created beings, perhaps lower than Angels but higher than us, or even some form of Angel.  

With that said, I personally do not believe there are celestial bodies inhabited by beings like us because this would seem to erode the special place Man has in God’s Creation.  But more than this, I find no historical reason to believe in such a thing.  The extraterrestrial craze, I believe is rooted is something real – and something demonic.  I attribute the .001% of actual ‘sightings’ to visitation from a rather dark place.

In any event, this talk of creation from nothing with no creator is absurd.  How people could go through life and not see a tapestry of intended design is explained only, in my view, by extreme materialism that usually includes solipsism or nihilism.  

But as I wrote in another thread on this scientist, I really question just how much he is saying.  A few years ago, he was unable to complete longer sentences and so I doubt now he is able to plumb the depths of essential truths.

[3Sanctus]

While he is obviously wrong, I doubt the real problem he has is a result of a lack of intelligence (even if that plays a role, which I'm sure it plays at least as much of a role in my errors as Hawking's).  The issue is the lack of faith on his part.  I have a hard time seeing him as stupid, but rather as an intelligent person who has failed to acknowledge the Almighty and therefore has to try and figure it out by himself.  To the degree he is able to be honest with himself, I imagine this must be some sort of Hell on Earth for him - to say nothing of the cloud of unbelief that must be developing/has developed around him.

Maybe humility on his part will kick in at some point and he will be able to put his intellect to a better use.  :pray:

[mikemac]

Someone should tell the poor Stephen Hawking that everyone in Heaven can walk and talk.

[Mithrandylan]

Someone should tell the poor Stephen Hawking that everyone in Heaven can walk and talk.

I know this is a joke but its worth pointing out that *if* that is true we have absolutely no idea what that means.  Maybe we just float around and communicate telepathically.  Seriously.

[mikemac]

Someone should tell the poor Stephen Hawking that everyone in Heaven can walk and talk.

I know this is a joke but its worth pointing out that *if* that is true we have absolutely no idea what that means.  Maybe we just float around and communicate telepathically.  Seriously.

Well it wasn't really meant to be a joke.  I honestly feel sorry for him.  It's almost as if he is taking his anger for being so disabled out by denying God.  With the imagination that he has you would think that at one time or another he would think of Heaven and whether he'd be able to walk and talk or like you suggest float around and communicate telepathically.  It's good to think of Heaven.  We know for sure that he wouldn't be disabled in Heaven.  I think Stephen Hawking needs our prayers.  Imagine if he did a complete flip flop and started to believe in God, that would be quite the testimony. 

[charlesh]

And if there are no other intelligent beings out there,  it seems like an awful waste of space (as I think Carl Sagan said).

I'm not happy with this. It's a non sequitur. I know everybody says it, so much that it's practically a slogan. Distance and quantities are absolutely irrelevant. You could say, analogously, "with all the trillions of grains of sand in the world, we must be able to find one inhabited with microscopic dragons. If not, it would be a waste of sand." Microscopic dragons, aliens--they're both arbitrary and random products of the human imagination.

[Bminor Mass]

laws govern things, how can a law be a thing.
even his own beloved laws don't operate in black holes.
He's becoming the Benny Hinn of rational discourse.