“Ah, there’s nothing more exciting than science. You get all the fun of sitting still, being quiet, writing down numbers, paying attention. Science has it all.“
-Principal Skinner, ‘Bart’s Comet’ –
I need more science geek friends. I have Bible nerd friends, and church friends, and missional geek friends, and hockey fan friends, but I got nobody to discuss Sciency stuff with.
I received a copy of The Grand Design, by Stephen Hawking which I started reading this week. It starts boldly with the statement that, “Science is the area of study that is doing the most to answer the fundamental questions of life.” (Hmm, I thought Theology was weighing in on this one too!)
Traditionally these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead. Philosophy has not kept up with the modern developments in science, particularly physics. Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge. -S. Hawking
My major at Brock University was Math and Physics and to say that Physics has advanced significantly since I graduated 15 years ago is an understatement. You can’t even see the leading edge of research today if were to stand where it was 15 years ago.
In short, ‘M-Theory’ is the latest and best attempt at explaining how the Universe really works. Hawking says that, “M-Theory predicts that a great many universes (multiverses) were created out of nothing.” (does this sound familiar?)
He does however turn down an interesting path, “Their creation did not require the intervention of some supernatural being or god. Rather, these multiple universes arise naturally from physical law.” I’ve written on this idea before but Dr. Gerald Cleaver says it well in this month’s Christianity Today:
“If the Universe arose from the laws of physics, then who designed the laws of physics? …If God is truly eternal, infinite, and self-consistent we should expect God to create eternally and infinitely, or not at all.”
To Cleaver, “M-Theory’s multiverse, with its dizzying variety, unending moments of new creation, and perhaps infinite scope, makes perfect sense as the work of ‘a God of the infinities, who creates eternally.”
More Sciency stuff tomorrow…
ephesians2eight 
I’m not sure which category of your friends I fit into but I’d be happy if I fit into all of them… well maybe not the math geek group…
Clever’s premise is sound, theologically speaking…
A God that is in an eternal state of constant creativity should not only give us confidence but excite us at the possibility of being part of that creativity more fully at some point…
It should also give us confidence to explore the boundaries of how we confine and limit God in our corporate “church” experiences as well as our own lives.
Thanks for your thoughts, Noel.
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I wonder about Dr. Cleaver’s statement, “…we would expect God to create eternally and infinitely or not at all.”
‘espect’? This seems like speculation in areas about which we know so little of his ways. Does it come from things attractive to us? from the ‘chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’ ? [I speak from the speculations of the edges of thinking about the universe, not from what has been observed]
I really enjoy discussions like this, but have to come back to the book: “This the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitudes.”
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