There are two videos shown below. One is the full length version of the program in question and the other is the trailer. The full length version may be removed in the future, so I do not know how long it will be available. It is only linked to another’s posting.
In Stephen Hawking’s program on the Discovery Network’s Curiosity program, Did God Create the Universe, he discusses the creation of the universe that includes some of his usual topics such as black holes and quantum mechanics, but with a religious twist. The first item on his agenda is to look into our past and give an illustration of Viking myths and their fears of solar eclipses. Not exactly the most objective way start to this scientific program. What exactly do the Vikings have to do with science, but to imply that they were ignorant and set up the implication that anyone who does not believe in what the program will purport are equally ignorant.
Next he illustrates how a prior pope in the middle ages did not like the laws of nature, so he decreed them a heresy. Another nonsensical illustration ending in the pope dying from a collapsed roof. What does this illustrated? Not much other than implying religion was silly in those times, but, alas, he is setting up his case. He goes on to say that (all quotes are his unless otherwise noted), “each new discovery further removed the need for a god” and that science does not deny a religion, just offers a simpler alternative.”
According to Mr. Hawking, to make a universe, you need just three ingredients. Just like a cookbook: 1. matter (mass), 2. Energy, 3. Space. With these ingredients, you get a universe. Since the universe has these elements, it just sort of popped into existence. You see, protons appear to pop into and out of existence. At that very small level, the laws of nature seem to not apply. Scientists, including Mr. Hawking, really have no explanation for what happens here, but that does not stop him from using it to his advantage in this examination of the existence of God. Since we do not understanding it fully, let’s use it for an explanation for everything. Very scientific.
Unfortunately for Mr. Hawking, this theory is sort of like the theory spontaneous generation that many scientists held in the 19th century. Those silly scientists of the past. What is spontaneous generation? According to Wikipedia, “spontaneous generation refers to both the supposed process by which life would systematically emerge from sources other than seeds, eggs or parents and to the theories which explained the apparent phenomenon.”
Scientists would see life spring up in say a mud puddle with no plausible explanation. It must have, therefore, spontaneous generated from nothing. They did not see the microbial life that we can see today, so they developed this theory. It appears that the universe is easier to make than life in a puddle of mud according to Mr. Hawking.
Again, Mr. Hawking: “Since we know that the universe itself was once very small, smaller than a proton in fact, this means something quite remarkable. It means the universe itself, in all of its mind-boggling vastness and complexity, could simply have popped into existence without violating the known laws of nature.”
He goes on: “After a lifetime of work, I think that in fact you can get a whole universe for free”. “The great mystery at the heart of the big bang, is to explain how an entire fantastically enormous universe of space and energy can materialize out of nothing.” “If the universe adds up to nothing, then you don’t need a god to create it. The universe is the ultimate free lunch.” This part of his discussion focuses on the fact that all the energy of the universe adds up to zero. We have the positive energy that we see all around us like the sun and subtract out the negative energy that is all over the universe and you get a big zero. That’s right. You do not need a god to create the universe because the universe is not really anything at all. It’s a big nothing.
Lastly he discussed the relationship of time to God: “You can’t get to a time before the big bang, because there was no time before the big bang”. “We have finally found something that does not have a cause because there was no time for a cause to exist in. For me this means there is no possibility of a creator because there is no time for a creator to have existed. Since time itself began at the moment of the big bang, it was an event that could not have been caused or created by anyone or anything.”
Does Stephen Hawking have time for God? His conclusion about time slowing and finally stopping as one gets closer to black holes may be true. However, he then takes this to conclude that at the big bang, a super duper black hole if you will, time also slowed and finally stopped as one gets closer to the point of the explosion. Therefore, time did not exist at the big bang. Consequently, there was no time for God.
This conclusion means that since there was no time, there must be no god. However what Mr. Hawking does not seem to understand is that time is a created thing. We are creatures that live in time. It is difficult for such creatures to imagine something outside of this universe, but there is something. That some “thing” is God. He creates. He is the creator. Consequently, He also created time. Yes, there was a “time” when there was no time at all; perhaps the beginning of the universe such as the big bang. God is timeless, eternal. He exists outside of time and space. There is no time for God, but God does not live in time and is not limited by time since He is the creator of time. He purports that “nothing caused the big bang. Nothing.” However, out of nothing, nothing comes. Here is philosophy again.
Of course, Stephen Hawking is our favorite scientist today. He parallels the popularity of even Albert Einstein. It is difficult to argue with such a personality especially when one considers that he has contributed much to our world today. However the science that Mr. Hawking practices is more philosophy with science mixed in. The philosophy of yesterday merely dealt with complex ideas of the mind. However, today’s philosophers must have a scientific background in order to ask the most perplexing questions of our time such as how the universe was created and whether there is a god behind the scenes. Mr. Hawking is a perfect candidate scientifically. Unfortunately, he does not have the proper philosophical or religious background to keep from falling into some serious problems.
So Stephen Hawking is a great scientist. However, he is no philosopher. First, he sets up a straw man in comparing those who believe in God with the silly people of the past that thought there were gods of rain and trees and such. Secondly, he believes everything was created by a super spontaneous generation. Nonsense. Thirdly, his god is very small. The god that he sets out to destroy is small. However, the real God of the universe is much bigger than Mr. Hawking’s god.
He is “pretty pleased as having worked it all out”. “There is no god. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate”. “There is probably no heaven and no after life either. We have this one life to appreciate this grand design of the universe and for that I am extremely grateful.”
This is what you get in Stephen Hawking’s universe:
Creation with no creator.
Gratitude with no recipient.
It is sad that such a great mind is so proud that he cannot see the Truth of science and the reason for studying nature in the first place. God is clearly seen if one has eyes to see. Pray that his eyes will be opened and that he will see the true God of the universe, the creator of all the fun stuff Mr. Hawking has spent his life examining. Then he can find a recipient of his gratitude and an explanation for what science has not been able to find.
