Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking is Professor of mathematics at Cambridge University where he held the Lucasian Chair at Cambridge for 30 years. He is author of the best-selling book A Brief History of Time. Hawking suffers from ALS. His most recent book, The Grand Design, was published in 2010 by Bantam Books.
The objective of this article is to provide a review of some of the foundations of our beliefs as they apply to Biblical creation and creation science. Also, it is to help people come to faith in God, hold their faith if they have faith, and strengthen their faith to be effective with others in bringing faith in God to them. I first listed these foundations in the February 2005 issue of the TASC newsletter. From time to time it will be helpful to refocus on some of these foundations of our creation beliefs so that we may easily review and keep them in mind as we continue to address these foundations in our TASC newsletter articles and witness to others.
The two greatest events in the history of the cosmos were, first of all, its supernatural creation and, secondly, the resurrection of its Creator from the dead. The evidence for each, to one whose mind and heart are open to evidence, is overwhelming. All true science points to creation, and the best-proved fact of history is the resurrection. The Bible, of course, teaches that both are vitally true, vitally important and vitally related, but even to one who does not believe the Bible, the evidence is still unanswerable. He may reject it, but he cannot refute it.
The genome of organisms contains their genetic material, which largely determines how they will develop. Scientists are learning more and more about the genome of various organisms, which is revealing more and more about the amazing wisdom of God in their design and creation. It seems that our understanding of the functioning of life is always incomplete, and the genome is always more complex than we had thought. Will we ever fully understand the functioning of life, or will it always be a mystery to us?
For those who adhere to a literal interpretation of Genesis and believe in a young earth, scripture is the first, final, and unrivaled authority (sola scriptura) on the questions of the origin of the universe, the origin of life, the origin of man, and the age of the earth. Young Earth Creationists (sometimes referred to as “YECs”) believe that the Bible is inerrant and clear in its teachings about origins. Good exegesis based upon the grammatical-historical hermeneutical approach and comparing scripture with scripture leads to the conclusion that the earth was created in six 24-hour days in the recent past. Nature viewed through the lens of scripture lends support to the recent creation view.
The facts and laws of physics, especially in cosmology, are best explained by intelligent design. The available evidence and best theories suggest the universe had a beginning and therefore a cause. The laws of physics and chemistry are finely tuned for life as we know it. There are no known natural laws that account for the creation of the universe from nothing with all the required properties for the existence of intelligent beings. Indeed, the idea that nature created itself is self-contradictory. Speculative naturalistic explanations involving a multiverse have no empirical support. The one known cause that can account for the origin of the universe from nothing and the fine tuning of physics is a powerful intelligence.
For ages, man has viewed comets with awe, even with fear. Comets are one of the most amazing phenomena to be seen in the sky. Often, comets have induced fear of possible portending doom. 1 Yet, comets are also arguably some of the most wonderful, majestic and beautiful spectacles ever seen in the sky, as you can see from the images in this article.
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Figure 1 - Comet Hyatuke
The doctrine of creation is often de-emphasized among Christians today as holding secondary importance. After all, isn’t Christianity about salvation through Jesus? While it is true that the Christian message centers on the atoning work of Jesus that is not a reason to neglect creation.
The objectives of this review of the new, exciting 12-DVD series, Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis, by the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) are to: