Stephen Hawking: Still Brilliant, but Foolish
Many people consider Stephen Hawking, the renown physicist and best-selling author, to be the most brilliant person alive. That may be, but brilliant and wise are two very different concepts.
This weekend, the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper published an interview with Hawking in which the celebrated scientist said, “There is no heaven. … That is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.” 
In a 2010 interview with Diane Sawyer, Hawking said, “I want to know why the universe exists, why there is something greater than nothing.” And, claimed that people “made a human-like being with whom one can have a personal relationship. When you look at the vast size of the universe and how insignificant an accidental human life is in it, that seems most impossible.”
When Sawyer asked if there was a way to reconcile religion and science, Hawking said, “There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.”
Asking the Right Questions, Finding the Wrong Answers
God reveals himself to the humble in the humblest things, while the great do not discover Him even in the greatest things. Contrary to what Hawking thinks, science and Scripture are not at war. They are at one. The “book of nature” and the book of Scripture each reveal a personal God.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands…. The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statues of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:1, 7).
Hawking asks the right question when he ponders why the universe exists and why there is something rather than nothing. It is the age-old question asked and answered by the Psalmist, who, like Hawking, observed creation with fascination.
“When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet” (Psalm 8:3-6).
Hawking peers into the night sky and perceives only impersonal nature and insignificant human life. The Psalmist examines the same creation and sees a personal God personally handcrafting personal beings with purposeful existence and eternal significance.
With eyeballs only, with reason apart from faith, Hawking thinks it impossible that a personal God exists. With spiritual eyes, with 20/20 spiritual vision, with reason redeemed by faith, the Psalmist realizes that it is impossible that personal beings could arise from an impersonal universe.
A Brilliant Fool
Perhaps the more important question is, “Does God believe in Stephen Hawking?” Not only does God believe in him, He knows him intimately and personally. While Hawking cannot perceive this truth, the Psalmist does.
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made” (Psalm 139:13-15).
The personal God who knows Stephen Hawking personally, considers him a brilliant fool.
“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1). “In his pride the wicked does not seek God; in all his thoughts there is no room for God” (Psalm 10:4).
What could explain such brilliant foolishness? God explains it.
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:18-22).
Foolish but Not Forsaken
The most brilliant Person who ever lived—Jesus—has not forsaken Stephen Hawking. As Creator and Redeemer, Jesus reveals the way back to wisdom—the way back to God.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together…. And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:15-17, 20).
Stephen Hawking can think circles around me. I truly admire his brilliance. I respect his ability to take complex subjects and write about them in simple but not simplistic ways. Still, he’s smart, but not wise. He’s brilliant, but foolish. That’s not my assessment. That’s the assessment of the wisest Person who ever lived and lives forever—Jesus.
Contrary to Hawking’s conclusion, humans didn’t create a human-like God with whom we can have a personal relationship. God created image-bearing human beings with whom He offers a personal relationship—through Christ.
Stephen Hawking’s life is neither insignificant nor accidental. The questions he is asking and the quest he is on to find answers is really about more than finding answers. It is about finding a personal God who offers not just answers, but forgiveness and relationship through Christ.
Join the Conversation
What would you say to Stephen Hawking if you could talk to him about God and the afterlife?
Dr. K, I’ve been a fan of your writing for some time, but this might be the best article I’ve read so far! Stephen Hawking, like all men, will meet his Creator one day. I think he may have some questions for God that he is unwilling to address publicly. Perhaps his physical condition plays a big role in his perception of human life. Maybe he is secretly angry or questions the Creator because of the way he was created. He is mentally brilliant, but physically limited and spiritually dead. I wonder if he would trade his mental abilities for physical abilities, and which would he consider to be the greatest? If he had a physically body superior to most other men, but was mentally weak would he view the value of human life differently? Scripture asks what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? That is the better question that Hawking should be asking and the question that I would ask him. As a believer of God’s Word, Hawking would be redeemed mentally, spiritually, and be physically transformed into a perfect glorified being when he enters eternity. Without God, he will perish for eternity like every other unbelieving soul, and what ever suffering he has faced on earth will pale in comparison to the hell he will enter for those who choose to reject their Creator.
It is often said of a family member of mine who happens to be a genius, “Won’t it be great when so and so get’s saved.” “What a great asset they will be to God’s Kingdom.” They say this as if God somehow needs this person on His team to be complete. God is not lacking. 26 For 2you see your calling, brethren, nthat not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many 3noble, are called. “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” (1 Cor 1:27-31)
If Stephen Hawking concedes the possibility that he could be wrong about God’s existence, he also could be wrong about heaven being a fairy tale. A scientist may say: “I don’t believe in heaven,” but if he says, “Heaven doesn’t exist because I don’t believe in it,” he is going far beyond the limits of the microscope, telescope, etc. and is being very unscientific–which is why the opinion of one, even Stephen Hawking, who is spiritually dead and blind, even hostile to the truth of God according to scripture (Ephesians 2:1; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Romans 8:7) carries no weight with Bible-believing Christians (unless, of course, you are one of those who foolishly consider scientific opinion to be a greater authority than the inspiration and authority of scripture).
Science has been wrong before on many things, as history shows. Most of the great scientists who pioneered “modern science” were believers in creation and the God of the Bible revealed in Jesus Christ, as history clearly shows (i.e Kelvin, Newton, Kepler, Maxwell,Boyle, Faraday, etc.). It is true that very intelligent people, even brilliant people, lack wisdom, but when God’s word says: The fool hath said in his heart there is no God” (Psalm 14:1), it means anyone who lives as if there is no God is a fool in the eyes of God, which is why God called the rich man a fool (Thou fool, this night thou soul shall be required of thee) who prided himself in his own self-sufficiency to store up wealth (I have grains a plenty stored up, soul take thine ease) . I (and many others) find it hard to call scientists “smart men” (in spite of their impressive academic credentials) who believe a “Big Bang” explosion (even an explosion superintended by aliens or a supernatural Creator God) created this infinitely beautiful, complex and ordered universe from extremely dense matter the size of an electron–approximately the size of a pin head (Who created it?) , especially when they were not there when this universe came into being and we have never seen an explosion produce order, beauty and complexity out of disorder and chaos.This is the real fairy tale. It takes far more faith to believe this than to beleve that an infinitely WISE, ALL-KNOWING and ALL-Powerful and HOLY God spoke ithis universe and all that is in it into existence. There are serious problems with the Big Bang Theory despite its popularity among the scientific community.