Posted on 03/17/2018 6:16:06 PM PDT by pcottraux
Actually, I believe it was the Jewish sage Maimonedes who 800-900 years earlier proposed the Big Bang.
Well done!
Perfect answer!
One of the greatest minds of the 20th century, Albert Einstein, was CONSTANTLY asked his "opinions" on all kinds of matters.
He was fantastic on mathematical and physics issues, just like Hawking, but he was a big fat moron on anything outside of his expertise.
Cheez Whiz, Einstein escaped the Nazis, yet he thought "socialism" was just peachy.
Virtually everything he propounded upon as a theoretical physicist has not been proved because with our present understanding of physics it can’t be.
Some of his pronouncements, if taken seriously, would require the entire human race to do incredible, dangerous and prove likely fatal for a large percentage of those who undertake them. Such as his well-known prediction that we had better get off this planet permanently because we have fewer than 100 years left here on Earth before we extinguish ourselves.
In other words, he asked you to take it on FAITH that he’s right and literally kill ourselves proving it.
Finally, I always wondered why he was not smart enough to figure out that this species should not be allowed to escape planet earth considering his opinion of said species.
Hawkings was a really really smart guy. He did not believe in God for the reason that he was handicapped. Had he not been handicapped he could have ended up as a chimney sweep, a really really smart chimney sweep but a chimney sweep nonetheless.
Yep, explain gravity. You can describe it, measure it, emulate it but we don’t know how it works. Why does mass want to be with mass? Is it lonely? Does the zero point have anything to do with it? Is the vacuum of space not empty? Is the vacuum of space actually a substance made up of a matrix of spinning energy points? Hawkings was smart but just focused on black holes. I realize black hole theory may lead to understanding gravity, but it is not the whole story. There is something we don’t get. We don’t grock. There is substance to space and it is not gravitons. Space bends for mass. What is bending?
I will accept a Co Nobel prize if this inspires anyone to figure it out. You can keep the cash.
With the intense suffering he underwent all his life it was hard for him to believe in a compassionate God. Let’s hope Hawking has found HIM by now.
Time was not on Hawking’s side.
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
That has been the orthodox position since at least Augustine ... and probably prior to Augustine as well, but he's the one who formally wrote it down. Atheists who don't acknowledge this are simply jousting with strawmen, which is in fact what most of them do.
Hawking survived his affliction against all odds. (His doctors told him he would die before age 30.) He defied early death through sheer willpower. I think it made him an anti-theist. That he dumped his nurse/wife who took care of him steadfastly for years didn’t help.
Science was instead philosophy in Augustine’s day—not quite the same. The atheists’ strawmen are stereotypes, which if you fit one aspect of it then you do all the others in their minds, though that’s rarely if ever the case. It just makes their world easier to understand so that they can dismiss all else. The watch maker, for example, makes the watch so that he doesn’t have to personally move the second hand every second. It moves by itself using mechanisms created by the maker. Does this mean the maker doesn’t exist? No, but for those who are uncomfortable thinking of anything greater than the watch, it’s a convenient thing to believe.
Hawking was a flat reality thinker.
By that I mean that his theories missed the most important variable, the operational frequency of human consciousness and it’s influence upon the perception of reality.
By keeping consciousness a constant, just as Einstein did, Hawking shackled his understanding of physics and God.
verses
Interesting that the writer mentions Newton at the beginning, but doesn’t come back to him. IIRC, Newton’s first primary area of interest was theology - he wrote numerous papers about his research of the Bible and the other various writings. Granted - he wasn’t a traditionalist, but he was very spiritual.
I also recall that it was his interest in theology that led him to his pursuit of the the sciences. That a creator God had a rhyme and reason for creation - and Newton wanted to learn what that is.
Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Aquinas’ five proofs of God’s existence satisfy me completely.
Compared to the Angelic Doctor, Hawking was an intellectual lightweight.
There is no scientific explanation for what started the Big Bang in the first place,
...
Actually, there is an explanation, a quantum fluctuation. What can’t be explained is the vacuum and its properties that allow the fluctuation to happen. Fining tuning is a related problem that’s yet to be solved.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.