Stephen Hawking has proposed a scientific approach to ending the cause question. He envisages a quantum universe where space-time would be curved back on itself like the surface of a sphere, and thus would have no beginning or end.
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord” (Revelation 1:8).
Did God envisage this question being asked by science when it had sufficiently developed in this present age to deduce the above quote by Hawking ?
If time can be envisioned as the surface of a sphere, who built the sphere and who is outside it ? Will we return to the beginning ?
2006-09-23 16:35:00 · 24 answers · asked by defOf 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Stephen Hawking says time has no beginning and no end not because the universe is eternal (which we all know not to be true, whether you believe in creation or the big bang we all agree that the universe began at one of those points and before then did not exist) but because time is an illusion, it does not actually exist. when G-d says, "i am the beginning and the end" he is not describing the world, or time, he is describing his own eternity, which matches Stephen Hawking's statement perfectly.
2006-09-23 16:42:46 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 2⤋
Stephen Hawking is one of a few people on this earth who can envision infinity. His mind is massive and brilliant. I love the man's mind. The statement "I'm the beginning and the end" has nowhere near the depth of truth as Hawking's does. It is not talking about infinity, time or space, but of God's role. It's not even a strictly NT quote. It is also found in some of the Jewish passages of the OT.
An expression found in several places in the Revelation of John (xxi. 6, xxii. 13, i. 8), a book which is to-day almost universally recognized by New Testament scholars of the critical school as derived from an originally Jewish work. It is found in passages like "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end" (xxi. 6); "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last" (xxii. 13); and also, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, who is, who was, and who will come, the Almighty Ruler" (i. 8.). This is not simply a paraphrase of Isa. xliv. 6: "I am the first and the last," but the Hellenized form of a well-known rabbinical dictum: "The seal of God is Emet," which means Truth and is derived from the letters , the first, the middle, and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the beginning, the middle, and the end of all things. Thus Josephus defines God as "the beginning, middle, and end of all things." See Zipser's edition of Josephus "Contra Ap." edited by Jellinek, 1871, pp. 159, 160.In Yoma, 69b and Sanh. 64a, the following is related: "The men of the Great Synagogue prayed to God to remove from the earth the Evil Spirit, as the cause of all the trouble. Immediately a scroll fell from heaven with the word (Truth) written thereon, and thereupon a fiery lion came out of the sanctuary. It was the Spirit of Idolatry leaving the earth. "This legend shows," said R. Ḥanina, "that the seal of God is —Truth." More light is thrown on the passage (Yer. Yeb. xii. 13a, Gen. R. lxxxi.), where the verse (Dan. x. 21), "I shall show thee what is marked upon the writing of truth" (biketab emet) is explained in the following manner: Whatever decree bears the signum of God, , is immutable for, says Simon ben Laḳish: "א is the first, מ the middle, and ח the last letter of the alphabet—this being the name of God according to Isa. xliv. 6 explained Yer. Sanh. i. 18a: 'I am the first [having had none from whom to receive the kingdom]; I am the middle, there being none who shares the kingdom with me; [and I am the last], there being none to whom I shall hand the kingdom of the world.'" Evidently the original utterance in the Apocalypse referred to God (and not to Jesus). A careful investigation of the passage, however, makes it quite probable that the whole was originally written in Hebrew with reference to the verse in Daniel, and owing to its being translated into Greek, the connection between vers. 5 and 6, viz., the reference to , was lost. Compare Justin's "Address to the Greeks," xxv., which says: "Plato, when mystically expressing the attributes of God's eternity, said, 'God is, as the old tradition runs, the end and the middle of all things'; plainly alluding to the law of Moses." Compare also Irenæus, "Adversus Hæreses," xiv. 3.
2006-09-23 16:57:02 · answer #2 · answered by AuroraDawn 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The ironic thing is that when Stephen is dead, he will be facing his creator who is the ALPHA and the OMEGA.
For being a "scientist" you would think he could recall the laws of thermal dynamics.
matter is neither created or nor destroyed.
that is.......that which is in existence right now.
God himself though is in fact the uncaUsed cause.
Like water, liquid,gas. All forms exist in one state or another.
And so it is with the human soul.
*the real question here is about ETERNITY. And that of which the bible alone can and has answered for mankind, if he/she will listen.
Read Revelation 21:8 for anyone that chooses not to believe Gods 66 loves letters.
Then read the rest of the bible and find out WHILE THERE IS STILL....... TIME!
It is your FUTURE! -LIVE4TRUTH =]
2006-09-23 17:00:26 · answer #3 · answered by LIVE4TRUTH 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes the Celtic pagan religion show this idea in their drawings. also most of the religions that are also older than Christianity.
a better quoit would be A year is like onto a day and a day is like onto a year for GOD.Which would mean that time has no meaning for the CREATOR as it lives in all time.an eternal now as we do not really know what time is yet . we have made up a set of systems to time our life from the viewpoint of Earthly rotations.
If you want to keep to christian views as the basis of answering.
read Ezekiel and his visions of trips to heaven. a song was made out of one of the verses. Ezekiel saw a wheel way up in the middle of the sky the little wheel run by faith and the big wheel run by the hand of GOD.
The CREATOR OF ALL THINGS is both within and without of the wheel as it made the SOULS of ALL that was and will be from its own body . therefore each of us has a soul which is a facet of the creator in the Physical world and is also outside of it.
Only the CREATOR knows when the wheel started and will stop and then all things will be returned unto and in to the CREATOR from where they came.
2006-09-23 17:04:24 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stephen Hawking was born a man...Sigmund Freud was born a man....Albert Einstein was born a man....Charles Darwin was born a "man"...but God is not a man, He created the human brain inside the man, and every DNA strand that makes the man, our wisdom cannot compare to the one who gave it to us..
"...the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 1 Corinthians 1:25
As stated by Thomas Edison...
"We do not know one-millioth of one percent
about anything."
I repect Stephen Hawking's intelligence, but it's impossible for a man to be 100 percent right, and 0% wrong (.)
Put 6 billions brains together (world's population), and hook them up to the fastest computer in the world, and they still would not compare to the intelligence of our Creator, God.
2006-09-23 17:07:47 · answer #5 · answered by Brain 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It takes an old fart like stephen Hawking to open ya'lls eyes and realize that what's said in the Bible is true? The idea that the universe has no beggining or end does not supprise me. Becuase God made the universe to reflect his nature.
2006-09-23 16:52:34 · answer #6 · answered by Maurice H 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes but GOD would still be here or do you think God will be committing SUICIDE?
If GOD is still here, then TIME is still here.
GOD is speaking of the END of time for MAN.
It doesn't mean the Earth will end.
It means those rivers of fire will go on.
God seems to create in spheres and circles (man seems to create with rods and cavities)
God however is Infinate.
Infinity is not actually a circle but two circles joined together.
God and Mrs God?
A helix
2006-09-23 16:55:05 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
God has no beginning and no end. I believe God is talking about time as we know it, for He was our beginning and ending. I would be inclined to think Steven Hawking is on to something (I am no scientist) but even on a molecular level things are in a circle, broken down it all seems to revolve and shaped like a circle.
2006-09-23 16:45:15 · answer #8 · answered by Godb4me 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
time may not have no end but the human race could. think about it we evolved and we created civilization here. now in the future, our civilization will end. and thus i believe, god is suppose to bring us all into heaven or hell. even though the human race would end, time will continue because who's is to say that if we are dead time does not still pass. just my 2 cents
2006-09-25 07:02:07 · answer #9 · answered by gets flamed 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God said he had no beggining and he has no end.
I can see a lot of people but I don't have to believe them.
Stephen Hawking is just a limited mortal man, he was not there when creation came about to witness it so anyones guess.
2006-09-23 16:37:55 · answer #10 · answered by Spadesboffin 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋