“An expanding universe does not preclude a creator but it does place limits on when He might have carried out His job.” Stephen Hawking.

I re-visited Stephen Hawking’s book, A Brief History of Time after watching his movie ─ A Theory of Everything. His book is more about his scientific discoveries and the movie is more about his personal struggles. The movie focused on his relationships, especially his marriage and the difficulties couples face when one partner is sick. Although, in this instance his wife chose to marry him despite his prognosis.

I think the book and the movie both complement each other really well, and you should really read the book and watch the movie simultaneously to fully appreciate the mind of Stephen Hawking, as he endeavours to understand the mind of God.

Stephen Hawking’s goal in life is to do just that, to understand the mind the God, he reckons he can do this by answering two questions: Why do we exist? And, why does the universe exist? This type of questioning is not new, Kabbala, which is an ancient form of Judaism also shares a similar ideology. If somehow mere mortals can understand why God does things, it will allow us to get into the mind of God ─ so to speak.

Chuck Missler a Jewish teacher does an excellent series on Kabbala, it’s available on YouTube. Chuck Missler likens the Kabbala concept to Ham who uncovered his father’s nakedness in Genesis. For those of you who are also familiar with the Tower of Babel story in Genesis, you may see a similarity there also ─ I do. The metaphor behind these biblical stories is uncovering God’s secrets or nakedness, which God viewed as sin. I can’t help feeling this is what Stephen Hawking is trying to do.

But I’m not here to judge Hawking, only to draw a parallel between him and others who have gone before. I’m certain of one thing, though, that God has allowed him time and space (pardon the pun) to continue his work, because by now he should’ve been dead. Hawking, was diagnosed with Motor Neurons disease in 1965 and given two years to live. He has beaten the odds and is now seventy-two years old, he’s had fifty years to prove his theory.

He first embarked on his theory, which is the theory of everything, when he was a student at Cambridge University. There he studied various subjects, physics, cosmology, science, astronomy, and mathematics. He couldn’t make up his mind what he wanted to specialize in, because he was so smart, in the end he settled on Physics.

I got the distinct impression from the book that he consciously drew a parallel between himself and Galileo, because he was born 300 years after Galileo died ─ to the day. He also made reference to the fact that the Catholic Church offered him an audience with the Pope, because they did not want a repeat of past errors they made with men, such as Galileo. The Pope told Hawking in 1981 it was okay to discuss evolution, but the Big Bang theory was God’s business. However, the Catholic Church had already accepted the Big Bang theory as being in accordance with the Bible in 1951. So, why wasn’t the Pope prepared to talk about something they had already approved? I don’t have the answer to that.

For me, no matter how much I want to make sense of The Big Bang I can’t.

In the movie, there was a lot of nodding of the head, as scientific theories were discussed and formulas written on blackboards. But what did it all mean?

All I could gather was that at the Big Bang, there was a flying apart of matter, but we don’t know why it happened or how it happened or how it resulted in a smooth universe and an earth that is perfect for sustaining human life. And, maybe it was a lucky chance (Anthropic principle) which resulted in this perfect outcome, but what are the chances of that?

The event was a Singularity, but nobody knows what exactly a singularity is, but they do know it happened 13.5 million years ago, and it is thought to have existed at the centre of a Black Hole, which is not really a hole per say, it is collapsing star which is still glowing. Scientists were 95% sure they have discovered Black Holes, when they discovered Sigmas X1. But since the discovery of NGC 1277 they are certain Black Holes exist at the centre of every galaxy.

So, a singularity came from a Black Hole which is a result of a collapsing star, but we don’t know where the star came from. You can of course, go into one of these Black Holes but if you did you’ll turn into spaghetti (spahettification) but to understand why or how, you have to know and understand String Theory. And, that’s where I had to leave Stephen Hawking for now.

In the book and the movie, Stephen Hawking did not deny the existence of God, he said, things like: “An expanding universe does not preclude a creator but it does place limits on when He might have carried out His job.” And, ‘’God did not intervene once the universe started”. So, I’m guessing he believes in intelligent design, but not in the God of the Bible or the creation story in Genesis. Aliens perhaps? Which is his latest project, a Russian billionaire has commissioned him to discover other life forms on distant planets.

Actually, Hawking’s views are not that dissimilar to Albert Einstein. Einstein, also said things like; ‘’God doesn’t play dice”, he believed in God (Intelligent design), but rejected the Biblical idea of God and the creation story in Genesis. Zionists, saw Einstein’s beliefs are anti-Semitic, and a price tag of $6.00 was offered to anyone who would kill him. Maybe, that’s why he turned down the presidency of Israel when it was offered to him in 1952.

I will visit Stephen Hawking’s book/videos again, because I like him as a person. And, even if I don’t understand everything he says, I can see that God has honoured him and blessed him, maybe his believing ex-wife prays for him. Studying to become a Professor, from a wheelchair with the use of one finger is no mean feat! And, for that alone he deserves great admiration and respect. Who knows, maybe all his correlation with Galileo, will eventually bring him closer to God. Because Galileo was a devout Christian, but even he said: “Where the Bible conflicts with Common Sense it was being allegorical”. Maybe, that’s what we all need, a little bit more ─ common sense.

Cheryl Mason © August, 2015