Wednesday, September 08, 2010

The Grand Design

Stephen Hawking is out with his latest book The Grand Design with Leonard Mlodinow.  He summarizes their thinking in an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled  "Why God Did Not Create the Universe."

Here is a pertinent excerpt of that article:

The emergence of the complex structures capable of supporting intelligent observers seems to be very fragile. The laws of nature form a system that is extremely fine-tuned. What can we make of these coincidences? Luck in the precise form and nature of fundamental physical law is a different kind of luck from the luck we find in environmental factors. It raises the natural question of why it is that way.

Many people would like us to use these coincidences as evidence of the work of God. The idea that the universe was designed to accommodate mankind appears in theologies and mythologies dating from thousands of years ago. In Western culture the Old Testament contains the idea of providential design, but the traditional Christian viewpoint was also greatly influenced by Aristotle, who believed "in an intelligent natural world that functions according to some deliberate design."

That is not the answer of modern science. As recent advances in cosmology suggest, the laws of gravity and quantum theory allow universes to appear spontaneously from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.

Our universe seems to be one of many, each with different laws. That multiverse idea is not a notion invented to account for the miracle of fine tuning. It is a consequence predicted by many theories in modern cosmology. If it is true it reduces the strong anthropic principle to the weak one, putting the fine tunings of physical law on the same footing as the environmental factors, for it means that our cosmic habitat—now the entire observable universe—is just one of many.

Each universe has many possible histories and many possible states. Only a very few would allow creatures like us to exist. Although we are puny and insignificant on the scale of the cosmos, this makes us in a sense the lords of creation. 

Hawking and Mlodinow refuse to accept what is patently obvious:  the complex and intricate design of the universe demands that their was (and is) an intelligent designer.  Their answer--it spontaneously came into being by the genius of nature!  Wow!  Not long ago Hawking was unwilling to acknowledge to talk about a beginning to the universe, but now he is caving to the pressure of explaining how everything could be "fine tuned" for human life the way that it is.  

The Bible tells us why smart men like Hawking and Mlodinow can be so foolish.

Romans 1:18–23 (NASB95)

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.   

God is not happy with this rebellion against Him.  men like Hawking are heaping wrath upon themselves as they suppress the obvious truth in unrighteousness.  They know in their hearts that this is a God and nature itself is constantly testifying to this fact, yet they refuse to acknowledge Him.  As they suppress truth their brilliant minds become foolish and they end up worshipping man rather than God!  Notice the last phrase of the quote above: "this makes us in a sense the lords of creation."

Their is only one Lord of creation: the designer of the Grand Design:  Jesus Christ!  

John 1:3 (NASB95)

3 All things came into being through Him (Jesus Christ) , and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.   


Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

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