Does Stephen Hawking himself believes in god? Why there are different
comments on his belief in god?
thanks

On 5 Nov 2005 01:19:30 -0800, "
wrote:

Does Stephen Hawking himself believes in god? Why there are different
comments on his belief in god?
thanks


Why should it matter to anyone other than Mr. Hawking?

I'm pretty sure that he's a pantheist.

Hi payam79bb, You asked about Stephen Hawking's thoughts on God...

My website, Cotse.NET/users/jeffrelf, has these quotes from Hawking:

In summary, the title of this essay was a question:

Is_Everything_Determined ?

The answer is yes, it is.
But it might as well not be, because we can never know what is determined.
...
In relativity,
there is no real distinction between the space and time coordinates,
just as there is no difference between two space coordinates.
...
The boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundary.
The universe would be completely self-contained
and not affected by anything outside itself.

It would neither be created nor destroyed. It would just _Be_.
What place, then, for a creator ?

But, as I say so much he

All information is relative... including godhood.

While I'm God to the ant in the palm of my hand,
because I'm able to control it, to kill it...
likewise, God is an ant compared his society, to his environment.

Theories, like evolution and the big bang, are not just postulates,
...they're The_Most_Fruitful_Postulates.
But comparisions that make us look like ants... or monkeys,
...are often censured... because the Zoomed_Out view is too scary for kids.

hi
thanks for reply According to our belief god is creator of ant and
human , both of them , so it doesn't mean because we are more
powerful than an ant we are its god,yes for example an elephant is more
power full but can any one accept that it is our god?
Does Stephen Hawking reply clearly to this question that he believe
in god or no?

according
Jeff_Relf wrote:
Hi payam79bb, You asked about Stephen Hawking's thoughts on God...

My website, Cotse.NET/users/jeffrelf, has these quotes from Hawking:

In summary, the title of this essay was a question:

Is_Everything_Determined ?

The answer is yes, it is.
But it might as well not be, because we can never know what is determined.
...
In relativity,
there is no real distinction between the space and time coordinates,
just as there is no difference between two space coordinates.
...
The boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundary.
The universe would be completely self-contained
and not affected by anything outside itself.

It would neither be created nor destroyed. It would just _Be_.
What place, then, for a creator ?

But, as I say so much he

All information is relative... including godhood.

While I'm God to the ant in the palm of my hand,
because I'm able to control it, to kill it...
likewise, God is an ant compared his society, to his environment.

Theories, like evolution and the big bang, are not just postulates,
...they're The_Most_Fruitful_Postulates.
But comparisions that make us look like ants... or monkeys,
...are often censured... because the Zoomed_Out view is too scary for kids.

Hi payam79bb,
I think you asked if Stephen Hawking simply believes in _Your_ God or not...

I know _Well_ who I think God is, but honestly doubt you could do the same.
Does Hawking believe in God as you likely define him ? I think not.

In this thread, and other places, I wrote:

I posit that gravity and Long_Lived protons are naught but
Left_Over density from the nominal start of the big bang.
What is the density of protons anyway ? No one knows.

Like our very lives... gravity is like casino winnings,
...irregardless of short_term gains, all is lost to the house in the long_run.

All _Any_ ever did was burn bright, like a star, dissipating into the night.
All die in the long run, _None_ having chose to be born in the first place.

So, as General_Relativity posits, freedom is notional.
As General_Relativity posits... information is relative... including godhood.

While I'm God to the ant in the palm of my hand,
because I'm able to control it, to kill it...
likewise, God is an ant compared his society, to his environment.

You replied:

According to our belief god is creator of ant and human, both of them,
so it doesn't mean because we are more powerful than an ant we are its god.

Yes, for example, an elephant is more powerfull
but can any one accept that it is our god ?

I can train an elephant, make it do what I want, kill it, whatever.
Were it living with me, I'd be it's God... No ?

Who created God ? Does God worship himself or is he just another athiest ?
Is he supernatural ?
Neither Einstein nor Hawking believes in anything supernatural.

Einstein said:

But the scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation.
The future, to him, is every whit as necessary and determined as the past.
...
People like us, who believe in physics, know that
the distinction between past, present, and future is
only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
...
Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end,
by forces over which we have [ little knowledge of and ] no control.

It is determined for the insects as well as the star.
Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to
a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.
...
A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _Universe_,
a part limited in time and space.

He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings,
as something separated from the rest...
a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
...
The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of all events
the firmer becomes his conviction that there is no room left by the side of
this ordered regularity for causes of a different [ supernatural ] nature.
...
Every true theorist is a kind of tamed metaphysicist,
no matter how pure a _Positivist_ he may fancy himself.
[ ... He believes in ]
a conceptual system built on premises of great simplicity.
...
If [ God ] is omnipotent, then every occurrence,
including every human action, every human thought,
and Every human feeling and aspiration is also His work ;

how is it possible to think of holding men responsible for
their deeds and thoughts before such an almighty Being ?

In giving out punishment and rewards he would,
to a certain extent, be passing judgment on Himself.

How can this be combined with
the goodness and righteousness ascribed to Him ?

__ The quotes above are at my website: Cotse.NET/users/jeffrelf

In article .com,
writes
Does Stephen Hawking himself believes in god? Why there are different
comments on his belief in god?
thanks

He does not believe in a personal God as we christians do.I think he
loses a lot for not doing so.It requires a bit of humility to say I
believe
--
Jim O'Reilly

Hello, Jim!
You wrote on Sun, 6 Nov 2005 19:44:23 +0000:

JO He does not believe in a personal God as we christians do.I think he
JO loses a lot for not doing so.It requires a bit of humility to say I
JO believe

Did I read that right: WE christians???
Gees! And then that real christian tone: a bit of humility... Come on...!
What on earth has christianity to do with believing in God?
In this sence, think of Jesus, Mohammed, Gandhi, M.L. King, etc. All great
human beings.
Jesus has never called himself: son of God. People did...

Why can't Hawking believe in a personal God without believing in Christ?
What a crap...

JO --
JO Jim O'Reilly

Best regards, DaWasa.

Recently he converted to pantheism. He let the world know this with
his right cheek:

Tuesday September 27, 2005
The Guardian

"His mobility is so limited now that he can only use his finger to
operate his computer when he is feeling particularly strong. Otherwise
he relies on his right cheek, targeted by an infrared beam, which he
twitches to move a cursor through his dictionary, completing a whole
statement before sending it to his voice synthesizer. It is the same,
agonisingly slow process whether he is speaking or writing and might
explain why his latest book, A Briefer History of Time, is a rehash of
the earlier blockbuster. It seeks to redress the criticism that lots of
people bought the first book but very few got through it."

In article ,
Jim O'Reilly wrote:
In article .com,
writes
Does Stephen Hawking himself believes in god? Why there are different
comments on his belief in god?
thanks

He does not believe in a personal God as we christians do.I think he
loses a lot for not doing so.It requires a bit of humility to say I
believe

Some say it takes humility and courage to believe in a personal God that
is supreme above us and holds us accountable for our life on Earth.
Others say it is arrogant and cowardly to imagine that we are so important
to a Supreme Being and that we won't really have to face death.

Who's right? Who cares? Such discussions are always a way of saying "I'm
better than you", no matter the speaker.

--
"Yes, I revere you much, honored ones, and wish to fart in response." --
Aristophanes, Clouds