HAWKING'S UNIVERSE

Do I understand well? Does Stephen Hawking really claim that the universe created itself and, at the same time, that God exists; or at least that both of these theories are perfectly plausible and can co-exist? As a child, whenever I asked:"...and who created God, then?" I was told He had ALWAYS existed. It never occured to me then to ask:"WHERE?"

It's easy to imagine oneself in a room with a table on which someone has placed a completely void, transparent container which has been hermetically sealed, AND WE WAIT, AND WE WATCH FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN. Would THAT be the state before the universe came into being? No, because that container is itself INSIDE a space and, therefore, it is subject to the influences of that external space. No experiment could really reproduce the conditions that existed before The Creation because these external influences would always exist and we'd always be asking ourselves:"And WHERE DID ALL THIS TAKE PLACE?" Similarly, the Big Bang theory lends itself to the same questions: WHERE? and HOW?

But what about GOD? Here we also have two questions: WHO or WHAT is GOD? and again WHERE was, and is, HE? We don't need to ask HOW because we're speaking of GOD, to whom all is possible.

Now, some scientists have come up with another claim: The universe has its days counted. It cannot expand forever. Expand where? Where exactly IS the universe placed? Can we fathom an outer region with no limits into which this expansion is taking place? Because the moment you place limits, you're saying it's INSIDE. So, WHAT is OUTSIDE?

I'm not a scientist and do not pretend to throw light on these misteries. But neither am I stupid. Both main theories are based entirely on faith, faith in the existence of God, or faith in that scientists really do know what they're talking about. However, anyone can put forward untested and untestable theories.

So where does that lead us? Logically, to a third, and probably more fundamental, question which must remain "forever?" unanswered: - WHY?

If the possession of FAITH is essential in order to believe in something, then as far as I am concerned, I prefer to place my faith in God, even though I do not understand Him, for I know I will never be able to do so. Humans should be humbly thankful and grateful to He who gave us all. We should not be presumptuously questiomimg HIM and attempting to belittle HIM by putting forward ridiculous theories that seem to aim only at demonstrating how easy it must have been to create something out of nothing.