Dust in the Helix Nebula
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Kate Su (Steward Obs, U. Arizona) et al.
The photograph on the left is an infrared image from the Spitzer Space Telescope looking into the constellation Aquarius. Several postings on the internet have wagged it as the "eye of God".
No doubt you have seen or heard, Stephen Hawking: God was not needed to create the Universe. In his new book, Grand Design, he concludes that God was not necessary to start the universe into motion - it was spontaneous. The universe created itself. If you read the comments to the Telegraph's article on Stephen Hawking, you will note there are many passionate people who do not believe in God.
I have great respect and admiration for Professor Hawking. He is brilliant with a surprising comic wit for someone to have such a difficult physical existence. I have equal admiration for many other people, including some that I know quite well. Those I know have made a mistake or two in their lives, and anecdotal evidence suggests it is hard to live an infallible life.
One of the responsibilities in my day job is to encourage smart and motivated people to collaborate with each other. No doubt state diplomacy is similar - you must discover what will make someone happy, or at least satisfied. So what data could possibly convince an atheist there is a God? Mmm. Would it be God's signature?
I don't personally know of single person that believes in God because of a piece of data, whether it is an archeological artifact or the law of gravity. There is a religious awakening of the future American Hero, Sergeant York, when he is struck by lightning while riding his horse to murder a foe. Like him, several of my friends and colleagues were awakened religiously when they realized human intellect and conscience was insufficient.
Me - I don't experience incompatibility with science and Christianity. Hawking has looked at the very elegant and deterministic equations of the universe and concluded they are all there is. Like him, I marvel at the math and how everything fits together. Yet for me, they are part of the evidence God is who He says He is. I suspect that Hawking and I are not that far apart. After all, the title of his book is Grand Design, suspiciously close to intelligent design.
But if you don't believe that, examine the hypothesis there is a God. What piece of data could convince you there is a God? If you cannot answer that, then perhaps you have a biased experiment.
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