Professor Stephen Hawking has lit the 'blue touchpaper' and asserted that God is not required at all for an explanation for the Universe because, er, "It's science".
In the absence of any real scientific knowledge I'm going straight to Douay-Rheims to bash my Bible! What is particularly striking about the Catholic Faith in terms of God's relationship with His Creation is that it is He who chooses to build a Covenant with Israel. It is He who condescends and exchanges words with the Prophets and it is He, the Eternal Word, through Whom all that is made was made, who condescends to take human flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. The Lord was perfectly within His rights to remain aloof, distant and to leave us to scramble around in the dark for meaning. Take the words of Scripture that describe Job's encounter with the Almighty, for instance.
'1 'Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:
2 Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful words?
3 Gird up thy loins like a man : I will ask thee, and answer thou me.
4 Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth ? tell me if thou hast understanding.
5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6 Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,
7 When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?
8 Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb :
9 when I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?
10 I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors :
11 And I said : Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.
12 Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?
13 And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?
14 The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment :
15 From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?
18 Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things?
19 Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness :
20 That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.
21 Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born ? and didst thou know the number of thy days?
22 Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or has thou beheld the treasures of the hail :
23 Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?
25 Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder :
26 That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth :
27 That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?
28 Who is the father of rain? or who begot the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice; and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?
30 The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.
31 Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?
32 Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?
33 Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?'
Of course, He could go on and indeed does lengthily, giving Job a going over so proper that Saturday night brawls in Brighton's notorious West Street simply cannot compare, but you get the general gist. It can be summarised by saying, "You weren't there mate, so you don't know!"
In the fullness of time, in the Person of Jesus Christ, God reveals Himself to mankind and by accepting the lowly state of our humanity, dwells with men and teaches men, before accepting death upon the Cross at the hands of men, destroying any remaining notions that God is distant, aloof or indifferent to humanity, raising human nature to the Divine Life of the Blessed Trinity.
Scientific enquiry which does not include a healthy respect for the Creator inevitably leads to Pride which always excludes God and raises man up to replace Him. For evidence of this see the ridiculously expensive CERN search for Mrs Higgs's Bosom. For yet further evidence of the disastrous consequences of this see John Smeaton's blog on experimentation on human embryoes, now frighteningly set to be adopted Europe-wide.
Bash! Bash! Bash!
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