Game of the Week: God vs. the Physicists

When a renowned physicist like Stephen Hawking speaks people will listen, and Stephen Hawking has declared that God did not create the universe. He argues in a soon-to-be-released book that the law of gravity enabled the universe to create itself from nothing. However, it seems that Mr. Hawking has contradicted his discipline.

Physicists can’t agree on the concept of nothing, on whether “nothing” is even possible, or even if “something” has an opposite. That is to say that nothing cannot exist where there is something and something is ever-present. If there weren’t something there would be nothing, which doesn’t exist. So while Mr. Hawking says the universe self-generated from nothing, other physicists believe there’s never been “nothing”, even at the beginning.

Whatever I just wrote can likely be expressed in an intricate equation that resembles Egyptian hieroglyphics on steroids. Therefore, I have no intention of crossing swords with mathematicians and physicists who might produce an overly technical conglomeration of signs, symbols and letters that prove I really don’t exist. I can only counter their equation with the words of Descartes, “I think, therefore I am.” But do I really think? Or, do I merely believe that I am thinking? Perhaps I only exist within my own imagination, which should stand for something.

So goes the universe, swirling, spinning and expanding in a way that only God knows. Except for one small flaw; Stephen Hawking has declared that God is a nonessential factor, if He exists at all. So, is it not fair to wonder if Stephen Hawking exists? Perhaps the Stephen Hawking the world knows, or thinks it knows, lives only in the voice simulations his computer system generates. Who knows but what those simulations are manipulated?

I don’t mean to minimalize Mr. Hawking’s physical impairments. But, if the messages attributed to him aren’t his own, what could he do to correct it? He can’t speak. He can barely move, if at all. Were his persona manipulated against his will he could do nothing to clarify his position.

The laws of physics unquestionably exist. Anyone needing proof can look at how splitting atoms affected Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But when it comes to ideas like time travel (Hawking suggests it’s possible), cosmic radiation a few billion light years from Earth and what lies beyond the universe (If the universe ends there is nothing beyond, and nothing can’t exist, remember?) I remain skeptical. The answers exist only within the theories and equations emanating from the human mind.

When a believer points to God, the physicist demands hard evidence to prove God’s existence. Well, if time travel exists send me to Philadelphia on July 4, 1776 so I can watch John Hancock sign the Declaration of Independence. Or to next February so I can return in time to bet on the Super Bowl. Take me to the center of the universe, or to one of the 30 billion trillion visible stars.

Since we can’t accomplish those tasks I’m left to take the physicist’s word that they are possible. In other words, I must have faith that physicists know what they’re talking about. And that word, faith, sticks in the scientist’s craw like rotten seeds. To have faith means to believe in something for which there’s reasonable doubt.

For example, if we view a star that is said to be two billions light years from earth, is it still there? I must have faith that the star still exists, since our view is from two billion years ago, and much can transpire over two billion years. What’s more, since stars can’t think must we conclude that they are not?

Yes, I’m rambling. But there is a point. Mr. Hawking’s disciples are as committed to his defense, and to defending astrophysical theories, as are Creationists to defending God’s seminal role in our existence. To question scientific declarations on the universe and how it began are as much heresy to the science community as questioning Genesis is to the Creationist.

Faith is required to believe Mr. Hawking, just as faith is required to believe God. Yet God encourages faith whereas physicists expect humanity to abandon the very quality required to believe them. Therefore, I must conclude that physicists present the greatest contradiction. Score a point for God.