God and Stephen Hawking Chat

God: Hi Stephen nice to meet you.
Stephen Hawking: God, that can’t be you, I have shown through science that there is no God.
God: Does not my presence prove you wrong?
Stephen Hawking: No, this can’t be right, I must be imagining this.
God: You mean like imagninary time?
Stephen Hawking: So you’ve read my book?
God: Well I sort of skimmed through it once.
Stephen Hawking: What did you think?
God: Well to start your title is a bit misleading. You call your book “A Brief History of Time”, but then you go on to say that time is just imaginary. I found that a little misleading. And then when you left me out, well let’s just say we almost had another Big Bang. And believe me you would have been imagining it for a long time after.
Stephen Hawking: Hmm, you have a point. I hope you’re still not offended.
God: It’s ok, I am no longer so angry at you as I am with this new Richard guy. He really gets under my spirit. How would you feel if someone dedicated their whole existence just to tell everyone that you didn’t exist?
Stephen Hawking: I see your point.
God: I’ve tried everything from parting seas, fire on Mount Sinai, I even rose from the dead, but people still think I’m not real. Everyone seems to believe in you, do you have any advice for me?
Stephen Hawking: The secret is no one will believe in you these days until you write a book. All you have to do is write a book, then they will believe.
God: No Stephen, I tried that already, but it didn’t work.
Stephen Hawking: Oh yeah.
God: What did you think of my book Stephen?
Stephen Hawking: Well, I sort of, well I umm, I sort of haven’t read it.
Narrator: At this point there was a very large explosion, we can only pray for Stephen at this point. God was too angry to comment and quickly left the scene.

Who Are God’s Chosen People?

Many of us grew up believing that Jewish people alone are G-d’s chosen people. But upon further examination of the evidence, this is not entirely correct. The truth is that Israel is God’s chosen people and Israel is made up of twelve tribes. Who we see as Jewish people today are only from one of those tribes and also part of Benjamin!

Initially there were the twelve tribes of Israel, mush like Jesus and his twelve apostles. All of the tribes were God’s people, not just one. But God’s favor rested mostly on Judah and Joseph, with Judah leading the way when they marched. Eventually there was a split and the northern part of Israel became known as still Israel and the southern kingdom was called Judah. To this day there is still speculation as to who these northern tribes are. But many have researched them throughout Europe and even America.

So while Judah and the jewish people are indeed God’s chosen people, so are the rest of Israel! Through some of my research I have been trying to find these lost tribes. Many people living in Europe and America are from what I believe to be the lost house of Israel. In the end God promises to bring two sticks together, one from Ephraim (Joseph’s son) and one from Judah. Some see Christianity representing Ephraim, so bringing christians and jews together would be the fulfillment of this prophecy.

You may actually be a part of God’s chosen people Israel and not know it. God promises in the end that the jealousy of Ephraim at Judah will stop. How he will do this noone knows, but it is a promise. Much of the anti-semitism to this days actually stems from an age old score or divorce between Israel and Judah. It has been in fact Israel persecuting the jewish people and of course it has gone both ways. So the lost house of Israel has had a grudge against Judah out of jealousy. But somehow God will take this jealousy away. If you have a thing against jews, it may be an age old grudge you are not aware of. And you may be angry at those on your same team.

There Was No Rain!

We read in the Bible, in Genesis, that originally there was no rain!  According to the Bible a mist arose from the garden and provided the water.  “But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” Genesis 2:6 (KJV)  Furthermore, when we look at the fossil record we find something very amazing that supports this statement.  We find petrified wood with no growth rings!  - http://www.wyattmuseum.com/noahs-ark-08.htm

Scientific study confirms the absence of growth rings in plants from what they label the “Carboniferous period”

“There was, as we have already said, secondary bark and wood, similar to that of modern trees but lacking the spring and winter rings which correspond to seasonal alternation of moisture and dryness. This is a further proof that the Carboniferous climate was fairly uniform.” (Larousse Encyclopedia of the Earth, p. 369.)

Growth rings are caused in trees by periods of differential growth.   We can trace the age of a tree as well as learn something about the rainfall and other climate variations during various periods of time.  All the wood we find today is a product of trees that have significant growth rings.   However, fossils of wood have been found with no growth rings indicating that these trees that existed during a time where there was little to no rain!

Free Will vs Determinism

People often choose to believe we either have free will or are simply products of determinism.   The truth is both are true and co-exist simultaneously.  There is some element of fate in all of our lives, those things we simply cannot control.  Yet, there is also a degree of freedom which we all share.  For example, you can’t control who your parents are but you can choose whether or not you will listen to them. 

We see from families of alcoholism that many children grow up to be alcoholics themselves.  In other cases they have little or nothing to do with drinking.  If everything was predetermined by our paths, then everyone in these scenarios would turn out very similar.   In a nutshell, some people with tough pasts become very bitter and miserable people, while others overcome, forgive, and go on to do great things.

In religion, it is often said that God is sovereign and that we have zero power over anything we do.  They say since God is all powerful if we make any of our own decisions, for example to become saved, that we are limiting God.  Some pastors I’ve talked to will even go so far as calling you a heretic if you believe you had anything to do with the choice of becoming saved.  It is to them, in some way, limiting God and taking credit for what he did.  They fail to understand the truth that an all powerful God could certainly choose to limit his complete control and offer us free will.  The Bible speaks clearly of free will and responsiblity for our actions. 

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”  (Joshua 24:15 NIV)

Because God is outside of space and time and sees the past, present, and future all at one moment, he makes his plan considering the choices everyone makes.  Think of a game of chess where your opponent could choose any number of moves, yet, you know in advance what he’ll do.  Based on this knowledge you shape your overall plan around the freedom of choice your opponent has.  And although you give him or her the ability to make choices, by knowing them you still remain in control. 

The truth is we have free will given to us by an all powerful God who was powerful enough to allow us to choose.  The argument can be turned around to say if you’re saying we can’t choose because it limits God’s sovereignty, then saying he can’t allow us to choose also does.  In may ways we are victums  of our circumstances, those things we have either zero or very little control over.  We all have been given a lot in life and all are responsible for making the best of it.  Jesus said to him who was given a lot, that much was expected, but to him who was given little, less was expected.  God knows our circumstances and someone giving $20 dollars to charity may be worth more in his eyes then a billionaire giving a million dollars.  You cannot seperate your lot or circumstances from your actions.  But you also can’t negate your choices because of your lot.