Stephen Hawking, There Is a God — The Proof Was All Around You

The theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author Stephen Hawking, who passed away in March at age 76, declared that “there is no God” in his final work, titled “Brief Answers to the Big Questions,” which was released yesterday after his family completed it.

Hawking was still working as director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge in England at the time of his death. He struggled for years with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), which confined him to a wheelchair.

How sad he felt that way about God, after he seemed to get “closer” than most of us ever will to understanding the wonders of the infinite universe. It must have been personally isolating for him at times to look into the cosmos — and come up with that bleak conclusion.

The intelligent design in the natural world all around us — a tiger’s stripes, a seahorse’s spiny tail, an infant’s tiny fingernails, a comet streaking through the night sky — all of these and more are proof of a loving God who pours His artistry out constantly for humanity’s enjoyment and wonder.

Often, great intelligence is a roadblock to faith — that’s why Christ commanded us to come to Him like children. Often, as human beings with our never-ending need to know the “why” and “how” of things, we pull out the flower to look at the roots — blocking the beauty and supernatural mystery of a thing in our search for “understanding” it completely.

The Bible says, “And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’ And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them” (Mark 10: 13-16).

Related: Yes, Jesus Talks to Us — If We Have the Faith to Hear Him

Stephen Hawking has the answer now as to whether or not God exists. As Hawking’s own website notes: “In 1963, Hawking contracted motor neurone disease and was given two years to live … Yet he went on to Cambridge to become a brilliant researcher and professorial fellow at Gonville and Caius College. Professor Hawking received over a dozen honorary degrees … [He] is regarded as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Einstein.”

For many, his work in spite of his awful disease and its severe limitations was seen as a miracle in and of itself. Hawking was able to lend his brilliant mind to us for decades — and, who knows, maybe his observational powers and deep intelligence were sharpened by his limitations.

God knows.

Perhaps our prayers should include a petition that we never lose the childlike quality that allows us to look at a tiger’s stripes or a baby’s fingernails and see God — without question, without investigation, without hesitation.

That may be the best human intelligence we can ever hope to attain — to know when to set it aside and simply marvel at the miraculous.

See a young boy explain why the universe proves there is a God, in the video below.

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