Imagine a symphony, a grand symphony. Every note, exquisite, infinitely complex, and yet perfect in every way. Melodies are completely satisfying, everything works in a seemless, unimaginable way.
Now imagine this symphony coming into existence without a composer. Poof, the sheet music just appeared one day.
Doesn’t sound plausible to me.
Read the Science of God by Gerald Schroeder. Dr. Schroder earned his B.S.,M.S., and PhD in Physics from the Mass. Institute of Technology. He reminds us how rich is our science and how true the Bible.
"...Hawking states that a "law of gravity" exists and this (not God) creates the universe."
Hawking the atheist has no explanation for and cannot give an account of those things which are necessary for rationality itself; namely, universal, invariant, abstract entities.
The laws of logic are not material in nature - they do not extend into space. As universal, they are not experienced to be true. As invariant, they don't fit into what materialists like Steven Hawking tell us about the constantly changing nature of the universe. Since an atheist universe cannot account for the laws of logic in the first place, Hawking has no rational basis for his claims about laws, of gravity or any other kind.
Cordially,
I don’t have the faith it would take to be an atheist.
I come from five generations of Lutheran ministers.
Faith - not rational analysis - is the foundation of religious belief.
“Free Will” is a fundamental part of Lutheran doctrine.
Yet, man has been denied the ultimate act of “Free Will.”
Man has no choice as to whether he will - or will not - exist.
God makes that decision, and places a man’s soul inside the helpless body of an infant who has no power to control external circumstances or to even think rationally.
True “Free Will” would require that God ask each man whether he does - or does not - wish to be created.
It also requires that the man has the judgment, knowledge, and life experience of a mature adult, not an infant.
Many people would choose to be created.
Personally, I wouldn’t gamble with my life or my soul, and I would choose not to be born.
Lutheran doctrine also emphatically states that God is all powerful and all knowing.
Once again, rationally, this violates “Free Will.”
If God is my creator, but God also knows everything I will do or believe in my life, then God knows whether or not my soul will go to Hell - BEFORE he creates me.
Ouch!
A God that willfully creates souls he knows will spend all eternity in Hell?
That’s not rational.
SFL.
Historically, people who are fat, dumb and happy eschew religion, in the same way they eschew hard work, morality and everything honorable. Unfortuately, people are at their best only when times are hard, and they’re ruined by prosperity.