THE IDOLATRY OF THE MIND…

“David, your brain on the edge of a razor blade is like a BB on a four lane highway.” That’s what my seventh grade friend shouted at me one day when he was upset at something I’d done. I’ve long since forgotten what provoked the comment, but after all these years this vivid image still brings a smile to my face.

I have to confess that it was this comment that popped into my mind recently when I listened to Stephen Hawking, the world-renowned British physicist, talking about his “proof” for the non-existence of God. In the realm of theoretical physics he’s an unparalleled genius and yet, in the realm of philosophy or religion, he’s inordinately ignorant…or biased. Take your pick. I kept wondering as he spoke, does he really think that by explaining the material origin of the universe he can eliminate what the philosopher Aristotle referred to as the “prime mover” or what the theologian Thomas Aquinas later referred to as the “first cause”? In his Summa Theologica Aquinas wrote extensively about the so-called cosmological argument for the existence of God. Simply stated, it goes like this. Everything in the material universe is the result of previous causes, but this series of causes cannot possibly go back in time forever. Therefore, there must be a “first cause” and that first cause is God.

Don’t get lost in the headiness of this. Just note the fact that a celebrated atheist like Hawking has proved nothing about God when he expounds on how the world came about. Should we be impressed with his prodigious intelligence? Sure, but don’t let this translate into believing that his argument for atheism holds water. It doesn’t. Science might speak to the HOW, but it can never speak to the WHO. Only Biblical faith can do that. And what does Biblical faith teach us? Simply this, that behind all that we see, touch taste and smell, i.e., behind the entirety of the material world, lies the great I Am, whose spoken Word brought all there is into being. Does this tell us all there is to know? Of course not, but it’s the starting point for all we need to know. John the apostle, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, expressed it this way, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3)

In my judgment Stephen Hawking and many like him are victims of an idolatry of the mind. To them, if it can’t be understood it isn’t real. But just imagine what a small world this would be if the human mind were the final measure of ultimate reality. Should we learn from Hawking and others like him? In matters of science, sure, but in matters of religion, forget about it. As brilliant as they are, they’re out of their league.

Love and blessings,

David