Steven Hawking - A Puzzlement

Jesus answered the Jews: "My Father is at work until now, so I am at work."  this reason, they tried all the  re to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God. Jesus answered and said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these,

so that you may be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes. Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.  "I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me."

JN 5:17-30

 Well, it was bound to happen one day, Steven Hawking has left this world and this universe, a universe he spent his remarkable life trying to explain without using God to get things started.  I think he is an example of a brilliant man who convinced himself that if there was a god, it was him because he could explain the "why's" and "Wherefore's" of everything, the existence of black holes and wormholes in space but he never did explain Steven Hawkings, where he came from and why he occupied space on the planet we call home. 

Steven and I would not have gotten along together. First of all, because he would have to spend an inordinate amount of time explaining to me what he meant by what he said since his IQ leaves mine in the dust.  Second. he was an atheist and out of all the belief systems in the world, I find atheism the hardest to understand.  Given the opportunities and intelligence that Hawkings had and if they had been gifted to me,  I would have been forced to conclude that there was a God that started all of this star stuff (thank you Carl Sagan) in motion.  Steven was slowly coming around when it came to the design of the universe even admitting that it had an intelligent design to it.  He was never able to move beyond this and proudly held to his atheism until he took his final breath on this earth. 

I fear for Steven's fate but make no judgment about it. Jesus in our reading today is clear that whoever believes in Him has eternal life and those that do not believe, well, their fate is not so rosy. I believe that God is a merciful God. I believe that we are all judged on what is in our hearts. I do not believe that Professor Hawkins was an evil man, just a man that was unable to see. 

I muse on what it must have been like for Steven to stand before Christ, the God he spent his life denying.  I could imagine that there would have been tears and despair as Steven realized what a waste his life had been because he went through it all without knowing one day of the joy that knowing Jesus Christ as your savior brings into life. At that moment, did Jesus help Steven to his feet and embrace him as the long-lost son?  There is no one as lost as one that will not allow himself to be found. 

Purgatory - Purgatory - Purgatory 

Please pray for the poor souls.