Stephen Hawking has passed...

[DeMotts]

Just broke on the news, Professor Stephen Hawking has passed away. He was an intellectual giant, and seemed almost immortal in a sense - I never really thought much about him dying despite having a famously incurable terminal illness. I feel the human race has today lost one of the titans of science.

Anyone care to share their opinions on Hawking? I'd be interested to hear what some of the theists have to say about the man. Ever since I read A Brief History of Time I've had a much greater interest in physics and cosmology. His approach to writing the book made it accessible for non-academics like myself to have an appreciation of the mysteries of the universe.

Thoughts?

[DrNoGods]

[Replying to post 1 by DeMotts]

I'd be interested to hear what some of the theists have to say about the man.

I'm not a theist, but was sad to see the news. I saw him twice and met him once, both in the Caltech Antheneaum during lunch in the mid-1990s when I worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. No conversation opportunity ... just a quick introduction along with other members of our group. He was very clearly a celebrity, and especially in that environment where everyone knew exactly who he was and respected what he had accomplished. He asked each of us what projects we were working on and genuinely seemed interested in the response. It is amazing that he lived as long as he did given his condition ... I bet A Brief History of Time is flying off the Amazon shelves today.

[William]

I would say now that he might well be amazed that there is an afterlife to experience.
He had a great innings, all things considered.

[Divine Insight]

I would say now that he might well be amazed that there is an afterlife to experience.

That would certainly be wonderful if true.

And far more importantly we can ask, would it truly make sense for anyone to believe that Stephen Hawking is now suffering in eternal torment for not having believed in any specific religious dogmas?

I mean seriously. A person would need to have a pretty demented mind to think that it would be justified to cast someone like Stephen Hawking into a state of eternal damnation for merely having sought to discover truth in the only rational way possible.

So if there is an afterlife, surely no one could think that it would be sane or just for a God to have condemned Hawking to hell. Whether that God be Yahweh, Allah, Jesus or any other historically famous God, that scenario just makes no sense at all.

So it can't be important to believe in any specific religious tales or dogma, or demigods, etc. That's just not realistic at all.

So surely if there is an afterlife, Hawking is enjoying it, and not suffering some unrealistic and unjustified cruel damnation. That simply wouldn't be moral or justice at all. So we can rule out any religions that would require that Hawking be condemned. Unless we want to allow for a seriously sick and evil "God".

[OnceConvinced]

I would say now that he might well be amazed that there is an afterlife to experience.

As a guy who believes in God but claims not to be a Christian, what makes you believe there is an afterlife at all?

[William]

[Replying to post 5 by OnceConvinced]

♦ My Answer.

[FWI]

[Replying to DeMotts]

Stephen Hawking surely won the praise of his colleagues and seemed to have a brilliant mind in science. However, he never receive a Nobel Prize, because no one has yet proven his ideas! So, by “the rules of science� we should conclude that Mr. Hawking was only a theorist with abstracted ideas, such as black holes, cosmology and God. Now, this doesn’t mean that at some point (in the future) some of his theories won’t be validated, but what it does mean is that “as of the present� his theories are just convincing rhetoric with no solid proof.

This is a resounding black-eye on the followers of Mr. Hawking’s ideas, who accept his claims without any solid proof, especially as related to the existence of God…

[Monta]

I would say now that he might well be amazed that there is an afterlife to experience.
He had a great innings, all things considered.

I think he'd be amazed and thinking, why didn't I see it?

As as scientist he genuinely believed his 'science'. He wasn't willfully trying to sidetrack in matters of religion. He did not see it but he did not rubbish it either.
Heaven will receive him with joy.

[Monta]

[Replying to post 8 by Monta]

Just came across this article and thought pass it on before i forget where I saw it.

Russia has just discovered a new black hole and dedicated it to Stephen Hawkings.
There's also a link of him being interviewd by Larry King.

https://www.rt.com/news/421874-astronom ... e-hawking/

[SkyChief]

I'm not a believer, but I was somewhat disappointed when Hawking made the claim that there is no god. He couldn't possibly know that - nobody can know that.

“But now science offers a more convincing explanation. What I meant by ‘we would know the mind of God’ is, we would know everything that God would know if there were a God, which there isn’t....�

(I added the bold)

Despite this gaffe, Hawking is/was an exceptional mind/man, and he went to great lengths to make quantum science accessible to laity like me.