God, man and Stephen Hawking

I watched a most interesting production on the Discovery channel the other night. In it Stephen Hawking, the renowned physicist, explained why he believes there is no need of god (a deity) in an explanation of Creation. His reasoning is clear: Time began at the Big Bang. Prior to the Bang, time did not exist; therefore god had no time to cause anything and since the Bang occurred as a result of nature’s laws, it needed no intervention or cause: A wonderful (in the full meaning of that word) explanation, but as is often the case, an explanation that relies upon definitions; in this case a definition of god.

What is a god? I hold that god or gods are whatever a person holds as the driving force of his/her life. To some their god is money or sex. To others god is found in a collection of books called the Bible, Koran, or Book of Mormon. Still others are driven by a lust for power or prestige. If these become the center of one’s reason for being, then it can be said they manifestly become that person’s god.

As an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ I have no problem with Mr. Hawking’s statements.  I believe that my God fits solidly into what Mr. Hawking is so ardently searching for: An all encompassing understanding of the cosmos both macro and micro, both Relative and Quantum.

In my opinion, Mr. Hawking’s central driving force, his raison d’être, is the full-time study and attempt to come to an understanding of the sum total Law of Nature. As such, his quest is his God and that God, I believe, is the same as mine. 

The God that I stand before in complete awe and wonder is not outside of that which is, but is that which is  (Exodus 3:14). That I do not comprehend the complete reality of all gives cause for my wonder. When I listen to Mr. Hawking I marvel at his ability to pursue God with such conviction and purpose while at the same time denying the small gods of others, including most religions.

Back in the day, when I attended Catholic Sunday School, I noticed how, when pushed far enough for meaning, the nuns, priests, catechisms, theologians etc. all claimed it as a “mystery”.  Some of those mysteries, such as the trinity, I now see as no mystery at all but rather a man made construct that attempts to explain what none of us understand. Historically, whenever a person makes a human attempt at understanding (Galileo, Hans Kung, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Stephen Hawking) those dressed in robes of ecclesiastical power become frightened and try their best to silence the “heretics”.
(All great truths begin as blasphemies. ~ George Bernard Shaw)

"Mysteries" are not outside reality. They exist only in our non-understanding or misunderstanding of true nature and its laws. To he or she who dedicates their existence to learning and understanding through the medium of scientific and/or philosophic inquiry, I owe a debt of profound gratitude. Contrary to those that may believe that such work is godless,the progress of such as Stephen Hawking is slowly replacing the small g in "god"  allowing it to truly grow larger and larger. 

“For our knowledge is imperfect… but once perfection comes all imperfect things will disappear. When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me. Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror, but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known.”(I Corinthians 3:9-12 Jerusalem Bible)