Before I begin, I respect Stephen Hawking as a scientists, however in matters of philosophy, he shows how inept he is. Furthermore, I think that all Christians should pray for this man because I see a man desperately trying to avoid the God hypothesis, and one who need Christ.
When I first seen it advertised that the Discovery Channel was going to be asking the question Does God exist? in a show called Curiosity, I was elated. This feeling dissipated once I heard that Prof. Stephen Hawking was going to narrate the show because I was familiar with his views due to his book entitled The Grand Design. I disagreed with Prof. Hawking on at least 3 occasions.
1) Nothing caused the Big Bang
It seems to me that since the Big Bang is the beginning of the universe and that it doesn't have a cause then the universe doesn't either.
If this analysis is correct, then that is the same as saying that our universe came from nothing. This is absurd, for out of nothing nothing comes. And I bet no one reading this is worried for a moment that a lion has just popped into being out of nothing behind you and is ready to devour you. But suppose that things could just pop into being out of nothing, it then becomes inexplicable as to why everything and anything don't just pop into being out of nothing. This raises a few questions, namely, why don't people, soda, computers, or lamps just pop into being out of nothing? If things such as people, lamps, soda, or computers can't pop into existence from nothing, how can a universe which is composed of the very things that make up these things just pop into being out of nothing? Why assume that the universe is the exception to something coming from nothing? Finally, this goes against our experience of how reality works. When is the last time, say, a book just appeared from absolutely nothing? Or a book? Imagine for a moment such a thing did happen would you believe a person that told you a book came from nothing? Of course not! Claims such as these would be scoffed at and the person making such assertions would be thought of as crazy.
Prof. Hawking attempts to show how things can pop into being out of nothing by appealing to the so called, "Virtual Particles" which seemingly come from nothing as well as negative particles. Now due to my ignorance of the latter, I'll only be addressing the former which Dr. William Lane Craig addresses quite adequately, and I quote:
"Virtual Particles do not come into being uncaused out of nothing, virtual particles appear in the Quantum Vacuum which is a sea of fluctuating energy. It is a rich physical reality which is endowed with a structure and is governed by physical laws." ‪Don't Virtual Particles Prove Something Can Come From Nothing?‬‏ - YouTube
Thus, these particles aren't coming from nothing and Prof. Hawking's given reason for things popping into being out of nothing falls apart.
2) The role that time had at the beginning of the universe is, I believe the final key to removing the need for a grand designer and revealing how the universe created itself. - Minute 51
Let me begin by saying, this quote contradicts the previous quote in which Prof. Hawking said that the Big Bang, or the universe has no cause. The idea of self-causation is internally incoherent and should not be taken seriously. To say that the universe created itself implies it's own existence in order to make itself exist! To illustrate, its like saying that before I existed, I caused my own existence. But I had to exist before I existed to cause my own existence!
If the universe has no cause, how can the universe be self-caused simultaneously?
3) You can't get to a time before the Big Bang because there was no before the Big Bang. We have finally found something that doesn't have a cause because there was no time for a cause to exist in. For me, this means there is no time for a creator to have existed.
If God exists and created the universe out of nothing He would transcend time in the first place. So I do not see how this objection shows negates God as the creator of the universe.
When I first seen it advertised that the Discovery Channel was going to be asking the question Does God exist? in a show called Curiosity, I was elated. This feeling dissipated once I heard that Prof. Stephen Hawking was going to narrate the show because I was familiar with his views due to his book entitled The Grand Design. I disagreed with Prof. Hawking on at least 3 occasions.
1) Nothing caused the Big Bang
It seems to me that since the Big Bang is the beginning of the universe and that it doesn't have a cause then the universe doesn't either.
If this analysis is correct, then that is the same as saying that our universe came from nothing. This is absurd, for out of nothing nothing comes. And I bet no one reading this is worried for a moment that a lion has just popped into being out of nothing behind you and is ready to devour you. But suppose that things could just pop into being out of nothing, it then becomes inexplicable as to why everything and anything don't just pop into being out of nothing. This raises a few questions, namely, why don't people, soda, computers, or lamps just pop into being out of nothing? If things such as people, lamps, soda, or computers can't pop into existence from nothing, how can a universe which is composed of the very things that make up these things just pop into being out of nothing? Why assume that the universe is the exception to something coming from nothing? Finally, this goes against our experience of how reality works. When is the last time, say, a book just appeared from absolutely nothing? Or a book? Imagine for a moment such a thing did happen would you believe a person that told you a book came from nothing? Of course not! Claims such as these would be scoffed at and the person making such assertions would be thought of as crazy.
Prof. Hawking attempts to show how things can pop into being out of nothing by appealing to the so called, "Virtual Particles" which seemingly come from nothing as well as negative particles. Now due to my ignorance of the latter, I'll only be addressing the former which Dr. William Lane Craig addresses quite adequately, and I quote:
"Virtual Particles do not come into being uncaused out of nothing, virtual particles appear in the Quantum Vacuum which is a sea of fluctuating energy. It is a rich physical reality which is endowed with a structure and is governed by physical laws." ‪Don't Virtual Particles Prove Something Can Come From Nothing?‬‏ - YouTube
Thus, these particles aren't coming from nothing and Prof. Hawking's given reason for things popping into being out of nothing falls apart.
2) The role that time had at the beginning of the universe is, I believe the final key to removing the need for a grand designer and revealing how the universe created itself. - Minute 51
Let me begin by saying, this quote contradicts the previous quote in which Prof. Hawking said that the Big Bang, or the universe has no cause. The idea of self-causation is internally incoherent and should not be taken seriously. To say that the universe created itself implies it's own existence in order to make itself exist! To illustrate, its like saying that before I existed, I caused my own existence. But I had to exist before I existed to cause my own existence!
If the universe has no cause, how can the universe be self-caused simultaneously?
3) You can't get to a time before the Big Bang because there was no before the Big Bang. We have finally found something that doesn't have a cause because there was no time for a cause to exist in. For me, this means there is no time for a creator to have existed.
If God exists and created the universe out of nothing He would transcend time in the first place. So I do not see how this objection shows negates God as the creator of the universe.
