Do you believe in God?
On September 25, 2014, the Huffington Post published an article titled: Stephen Hawking Says “There is No God,” Confirms He’s An Atheist
Stephen Hawking is a theoretical physicist and cosmologist, similar to Albert Einstein.
At age 21 he was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Despite his debilitating illness, he has completed ground-
breaking work in physics and cosmology.
Stephen Hawking has worked on the basic laws which govern the universe. With Roger Penrose he showed that Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity implied space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes.
The findings of his work also pushed him toward his ongoing efforts to unify the theory of General Relativity (the study of the big, such as planets and solar systems) with Quantum theory (the study of very small things, smaller than an atom, such as quarks, and dark matter).
One consequence of such a unification that he discovered was that black holes should not be completely black, but rather should emit radiation and eventually evaporate and disappear. He’s convinced that time travel is possible, and that humans may indeed colonize other planets in the future.
As for those who believe in God…
The simplest place to begin is “In the Beginning” of the original testament with the first verse of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1).
Is science really contradictory to God’s existence? Can science even point to God’s existence?
It is difficult to read Job 12: 7-11 without considering it a personal and bold invitation to search out God in his creation as a scientist. And there are many scientists who do believe in God.
Job 12:7-11 “But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; and let the fish of the sea declare to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? Does not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food?”
The truth of the General revelation of God’s existence through God’s very creation is a recurring theme throughout the Bible.
Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of god created he him; male and female created them”
Psalms 19:1-2 “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge.”
How much more exciting and inspirational are these verses when viewing pictures taken from the Hubble telescope!
Psalms 90:2 (a prayer of Moses) – “Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”
From the Apostle Paul using natural theology as a basis for his statement in Romans 1:20-21 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power as Godhead, so that they are without excuse. because, although they know God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened”
For further reading, In the book of Job, Satan is allowed to test the strength of Job’s belief in God because of Satan’s crafty claim that his piety before god is only because God blessed him in the first place.
In the account there is a dialogue between God and Job, with God speaking via a whirlwind.
In chapters 38 thru 41, God challenges and bombards Job with questions about His creation that strongly reveals in vivid examples God’s existence through his creation.
Job then replies: Job 42:5 “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear; But now (through these vivid examples) my eye sees You. Therefore, I abhor myself And repent in dust and ashes”.