The Humility of Not Knowing - Stephen Hawkins Died Today

Photo Taken from Tyson's Tweet 

One of my favorite scientists is the renown Neil deGrasse Tyson.  I would love to actually know him personally - our friendship would easily start based on our love of all things "Trek".  Tyson has an awesome sense of humor. Also, because he is a very intelligent man, I would love to simply learn from him.  If possible, I would even radically change my career and sit under him to get a Ph.D. in Astro Physics!

Today, however, is not about Tyson, but about someone, Tyson knew and had great respect for; Dr. Stephen Hawkin.  Today, March 14th, 2018, Stephen Hawkin died.  Because I am a man of faith, and I strongly trust in and promote the grace of God, I am confident that because of God's mercy, Dr. Hawkin now knows the truth and he no longer is suffering in the prison of his physical body. I humbly pray that God may have mercy on his soul.

First, my prayers are with his family and close friends.  I am sorry for your loss and I pray that you all may find comfort in the incredible memories - the positive ones, of course - of Stephen and his amazing accomplishments in life.  Encourage each other and don't let the things that are difficult in life distract from your morning and honoring Dr. Hawkin.

As best as I can figure, Hawkin was a professed Athiest.  He is noted as saying that there is "no heaven or afterlife" and that these ideas are basically fairytales "...for people afraid of the dark".  Yet, he was not overtly antagonistic toward the faith community and it could be argued that the faith community was harsher toward him than he was toward us.  He met the Pope and they were very cordial towards each other.  He is noted as saying through his voice synthesizer back in 2001 the following regarding the idea that God created the Universe:

The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second. If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', but it wouldn't be a personal God that you could meet, and ask questions.

Yet even in this statement, he is not antagonistic - he simply doesn't know.  He even stated that "we can't understand" the way the universe began -either by God or some type of natural scientific laws.  This statement betrays a type of humility regarding knowledge that any honest scientist must admit, just as any honest theist - like myself - must also confess. 

Of course, I don't know Dr. Hawkin at all and I don't want to come across like he was a closet believer.  What I would like to say is this:  Christians need to love everyone, regardless of what they say or how they treat us.  This alone would make this world a better place!

In conclusion, the world has lost a man of great influence.  Yet, picking up where I started, I pray for Mr. Tyson -a guy who is clearly excited about the cosmos - he lights up like a child!  I love it!  I hope I can have that same youthful wonder about life, love, faith, creation, and truth for as long as I live.  I would love to meet Dr. Tyson someday, as I definitely didn't get to meet Dr. Hawkin.  Dr. Tyson also has great influence in our world today.  He too wisely admits, in humility, to not having all the answers, and I really, really appreciate it.  We should all ascribe to an honest assessment of our own limitations and embrace the Humility of Not Knowing!
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