Posted on 05/16/2011 12:41:52 PM PDT by Former Fetus
British scientist Stephen Hawking has branded heaven a "fairy story" for people afraid of the dark, in his latest dismissal of the concepts underpinning the world's religions.
The author of 1988 international best-seller "A Brief History of Time" said in an interview with The Guardian published on Monday that his views were partly influenced by his battle with motor neurone disease.
"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first," he told the newspaper.
"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I would have been sorry if you had been my student and had withdrawn because of your closedmindedness.
i agree. I’m really surprised a man as smart as Hawkings actually made that statement.
I’m interested in freepers answers.
Doesn’t God know all this before He even creates us? He must know if a person will be a Christian, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, etc, right?
...and some just want answers from other people.
Gifts and free will that God knew how he would use them, also.
I wouldn’t suggest anything to God. I just enjoy talking about this subject, asking questions, and seeing how people answer. Thanx for an honest answer.
Why do you think God would create people that He knows will got to hell?
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's, or ALS) is a degenerative disease of the nervous system. It has the curious habit of progressing more slowly, the younger it strikes. A person that doesn't contract it until they are 90 will probably only last a few months. But people that get it in their 20's (like Hawking) generally see it progress very, very slowly over some decades. He may still live into his 70's or beyond.
There's a couple active threads right now dealing with Judgment Day and its professors. Sounds to me like Hawking may be more in line with the truth than they..........
Who ya gonna believe when the Bakers and the Swaggerts are crying on your TV screen, another dude is talking in tongues and the catholic priests are in the news for their little shenanigans.
Tell you what, send me your "Love Offering" of $10 or more and I'll send you a prayer scarf.........
Why did He create Satan? Why is He going to release Satan at the end of the Millenial Kingdom? When you answer these questions to me, I will answer yours.
Seriously, you don't expect to understand God, do you? How big a God would He be if you (or me) could comprehend Him? I'd rather not understand because of His greatness, than have an intsy bitsy little god that I can understand.
That's good enough for me!
One question: why do you ask this when, according to your home page, you do not believe in hell? FYI, the Hebrew word sheol appears in the King James Bible 65 times, the word hades 10 times, gehenna 12 times. Add to that tartarus... it's a lot of mentions for a place that you don't think exists!
What did Jesus say about hell? "cast into hell fire— where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:48)
There is nowhere in the Bible that indicates the sun revolved around the earth — this was a belief of the Catholic church which has a tendency to get a lot of things wrong — this will not be an acceptable excuse when man stands before God to answer for his unbelief, which is what condemns man and will separate him from all that is good, whereby; he will be isolated in eternal darkness forever, defined by God as a place of “weeping and grinding of teeth.” Everything good that you see in creation, all the beauty that you see in creation, and all the comlexity you see in creation condemns you for your unbelief in the Creator. The Bible defines you as spiritually blind, unable to see or comprehend the truth. May God the Holy Spirit remove the scales from you eyes that you might see as millions of other have and experience the peace, the joy, and the forgiveness of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Who is God Almighty. Then you too will be able to sing with the redeemed, “I once was lost, but now I’m found.” God bless you my friend, my prayer is that someday we will meet in eternity, and you will say, thanks for loving me enough to share the truth with me.
Because God loved you enough to give you the blessing of choice.
Because God loved you enough to give you the blessing of choice.
How frequently do you get to see a professor raise her hands and proclaim “my Lord, how great Thou art” in class?
In a biology class, my reaction would be the same as if a professor raised her hands and proclaimed "Allah Akbar" (Arabic for "God is great").
I'd want a refund.
There is a quote in the Bible that answers just this question:
Acts 17:22 Then [the Apostle] Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. 30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”
God has given us His Son Jesus Christ to reconcile the world to himself. All human history revolves around this point.
Well, that would make one of us.
Only 400 or so years ago, the Salem Witch Trials took place. So at the time the books of the bible were put together, mankind was not exactly scientifically advanced.
If I meet God in the afterlife and he asks “why didn’t you believe?”, I’ll answer - “Well, sir, your marketing campaign could above been a little better.”
We haven’t had a visitation in 2,000 years. Once a century would do it for me. So, how can I put my faith in a god that no one living has seen, hasn’t been seen on earth in 2,000 years, whose visitation is historically questionable and who this very night will ignore the prayers of abused, starving and helpless children? Because the bible says so?
It’s not enough for me.
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