Worldview #3: A Self-Creating Universe?

It is a question that all people wrestle with at some point in their lives: Where did the universe come from? There are two dominant views: The first is what is taught as fact within our public schools, universities, and society in general. This view holds that the universe is all that exists. Therefore, its creation must be the result of a natural event. But what was the natural event that caused the creation of the universe from this viewpoint?

Stephen Hawking, a man who is considered to be a leading cosmologist explained, “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing” (The Grand Design).  Say what, the universe created itself!?

Hawking’s view is widely accepted as fact. However, there are two major issues with his theory. The first argument pertains to philosophy. Hawking commits a violation of logic known as circular reasoning. Basically what he is saying is that the universe exists because the universe needed to exist. And because it needed to exist it therefore created itself. However, all that he has done is restated his original claim and offers that as an explanation for how and why it was created. As John Lennox said, “Nonsense remains nonsense, even when spoken by famous scientists.”

Second, science itself disproves what Hawking’s theory. Gravity does not have an equal amount of “negative” energy to perfectly balance all other “positive” energies (J. Gribbin, Are We Living in a Designer Universe?). Yet even if it did, it does not answer the question of where it came from and who or what caused it to supposedly create the universe. As one writer stated, “Did the oak tree come from an acorn? No, Hawking would say--it was just the result of "spontaneous creation" and there it is. Such reasoning makes no sense” (Brian Thomas, http://www.icr.org/article/hawking-says-universe-created-itself/).

On the other hand, a second view is that Someone who was not created caused the creation. Logic tells us that if there is a building, there must be a builder. If there is a watch, there must be a watchmaker. Likewise, if there is a creation, there must be a creator. Furthermore, science supports this view. “In every case where something has actually been made, that which caused it existed prior to it” (N. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, p. 120).

Hawking's theory may be entertaining to consider, yet philosophically and scientifically absurd! On the other hand, scientist Sir Isaac Newton offers a more reasonable and accurate assessment of the universe's origins: “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being” (The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy).

In His service,

            Matt