I don't know whether Stephen Hawking is a believer or not. Guess I could do a search and find out. But from the following small piece of information, it appears to me that he is relying on man's achievements in space to "keep us from disaster and dangers we have not thought of yet."
When I was growing up, the threat of a nuclear war with the former Soviet Union was quite real. I remember my elementary school back east running "air raid" drills. We would all hurriedly leave our classrooms, go down to the basement of the school, and cower along the long walls near the bathrooms. That drill, alone, was enough to scare the living daylights out of us! We may not have understood all the reasons why, but the teachers would try to tell us that it was for "protection" in case of an emergency.
Later in life, when I learned of the huge danger that had loomed over our country during that time, I realized how important it was to pray for God's protection over our country. Today, the danger is much greater. With Islamofascism intent on destroying us any way that it can, and the threat of North Korea and Iran developing nuclear weapons, we have a lot to worry about here on earth!
But then I remember the words of Jesus.
Matthew 6:27 - (NKJV)
"Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"
Luke 12:25 - (NKJV) "And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"
In Max Lucado's book Traveling Light, he describes worry as "the burlap bag of burdens" that we, unfortunately, tend to carry around with us on a daily basis.
Psalm 55:22 - (NKJV) Cast your burden on the LORD,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
Jesus asks us to lay down our burdens.
Matthew 11:30 - (KJV) For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.
Isaiah 46:4 - (NKJV) Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.
When you read the Turning Point message below, think about how difficult, expensive, and cumbersome it would be to create life on Mars as it exists on our earth. Mindboggling, isn't it? I think so. And yet, there are scientists who believe that the earth just came to be by accident, from a "Big Bang" millions of years ago. No need for a creator or intelligent designer. The earth just happened to be habitable for life, while the rest of the planets in our solar system aren't. As the book and documentary called Privileged Planet exhorts:
Gonzalez and Richards counter the prevailing notion among scientists that Earth is merely an average rocky planet revolving around an ordinary star on the outskirts of an undistinguished galaxy. The authors present evidence that suggests life in the cosmos is a rarity due to a variety of prerequisite conditions, such as the unique properties of water, the peculiarities of the Earth-moon system, the sheltering effects of Jupiter and Saturn, and the fine-tuned nature of the universe. The authors maintain that these same conditions allow mankind's significant discovery of the structure of physical laws and the universe. The appendices examine a revised Drake Equation and tackle the idea of "panspermia" - the seeding of life on Earth.
In another review at the link above, D. Thomas Porter states:
Richards and Gonzalez have an intriguing answer to a troubling question: Why is Earth so well-suited for complex life and observation of the universe by its inhabitants? More critically, is there evidence, scientific evidence, to suggest design—a purpose that explains more than the sheer permutations and probabilities which allow for complex life-form existence?
Well. As we well know by now, the scientific community is not comfortable with the question of "why," so books like The Privileged Planet aren't about to get a fair hearing. But books like these help us in our faith that God is the Creator of Heaven and Earth. You see, I believe in the "Big Bang" too. Except my view of it is likely much different than Hawking.
God spoke and BANG! It happened!
In addition to this, I don't think that he would have to worry so much about the "human race extinction" if he knew Jesus Christ and God's Word, the Bible. Stephen Hawking may be considered one of the most intelligent and knowledgeable astrophysicists in our world today, but the "fear (meaning reverence) and knowledge of the Lord" is the beginning of wisdom.
[1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Gen 1:1 KJV)
What came first? Mind or matter? The Bible tells us:
Jhn 1:1
¶
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jhn 1:2
The same was in the beginning with God.
Jhn 1:3
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Jhn 1:4
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Hbr 1:10
And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
*******
With all of these thoughts in mind, here's the Turning Point commentary for the day:
Mars?
Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted . . . They are more than can be numbered.
Psalm 40:5
Recommended Reading
Psalm 40:1-5
Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking recently told a conference that human beings must quickly establish a base on the moon and colonize Mars, otherwise global warming or another catastrophe may drive the human race to extinction. "Life on earth is at the ever increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other dangers we have not thought of yet," he said.
The Bible teaches that earth’s days are numbered; but the Bible also says that God has not abandoned us, nor has He forgotten His children.Psalm 139 says, "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them."
Jeremiah 29:11 says, "‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ says the Lord, ‘thoughts of peace . . . to give you a future and a hope.’"
We can forget the Lord, but He can never forget us. He loves and knows and cares, and we should think about that. When your world is threatened, it’s not Mars you need, but the Master.
God’s thoughts of love are very many, very wonderful, very practical! Muse on them . . . no sweeter subject ever occupied your mind.
God’s thoughts of you are many. Charles Spurgeon
Read-Thru-the-Bible
John 3:22 - 5:18
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3 comments:
Science shouldn't be looked to for answers to what are religious questions. 'Does God exist', 'What was there before the Big Bang' are the types of questions that science can't answer now and probably never will be able to. The answers to such questions, which would require an ability to explain how something like the universe was generated out of nothing, are more philosophical than anything else. You beleive God created it, Hawking believes, (I think), that it came out of a tiny box-like structure that was always there, ("God-in-a-box"?), and I may say that The Flying Spaghetti Monster did it. As a question of belief, it's not something science can tell us the correct answer to.
But science can tell us about the circumstances under which life was generated on Earth, and indeed it has. And if you look at what the odds are against life developing on Earth, or anywhere else, we do indeed seem pretty special. But when you then consider the size of the universe and the enormous number of planets and stars and elements and all that other groovy stuff that life requires, the odds that we're alone are actually pretty durn small. Of course, the odds of us meeting anyone else are probably smaller.
I'm curious, Limpy99, how would you answer the question:
What came first? Mind or matter?
Probably badly, but I'll give it a shot. And I'm going to cheat by giving you two answers. I do not accept that the Universe just popped into being out of nothingness. I cannot wrap my mind around the idea that there was a state of complete nothingness, no time, no space, no anything, (although occasionally when I watch Fox television I get close to accepting this idea), and then all of a sudden there was a universe. I believe that there had to have been a creative force, or a mind if you will, that put all this in motion. I do not know what this force was, or is, or anything about it. I just think that there has to be a trigger for creation, and that whatever it is transcends physical laws and is therefore outside the realm of science.
Now if you're talking about the human mind, then I go with matter first, simply because I accpet the theory of evolution, and last I checked, simple bacteria don't have minds. They may be running the Fox news dept these days, but that doesn't change anything.
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