In Theory: If the human race becomes extinct, will the concept of God exist elsewhere in the universe?
With predictions of ecological disaster on Earth, astrophysicist and author Stephen Hawking believes humans must begin to establish colonies elsewhere. At the Starmus science festival in Norway in June, Hawking brought new urgency to earlier statements that overpopulation, the potential for an asteroid impact and unchecked climate change are among the dangers that threaten the existence of humanity.
“Earth is under threat from so many areas that it is difficult for me to be positive,” the scientist said.
Hawking is a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and was a participant late last year at the organization’s annual meeting at the Vatican, where the avowed atheist found an unlikely ally in Pope Francis. At the same event, the pontiff expressed concerns about “irreversible harm not only to the environment, but also to our societies, to democracy, to justice and freedom.”
Q. Do you believe the human race faces an existential threat? If humans fail to develop space travel, suffer a catastrophe and therefore become extinct, will the concept of God exist elsewhere in the physical universe?
God has already addressed this very important question in scripture. The human race does not face an existential threat, whether from asteroids, ecological disasters or any other source. In fact, the Bible tells us exactly what will happen. Jesus Christ will return to raise the bodies of believers of all generations, and then transform or “rapture” believers living on earth at that time, leaving those who reject him.
After this, the Antichrist will be revealed, rule over humanity for a limited time and ultimately be conquered by Jesus. Jesus will then rule on Earth over humanity for 1,000 years, after which the heavens and Earth will be consumed with fire. Those people who rejected God will be judged and cast eternally into the Lake of Fire. God will create new heavens and a new Earth, and those who know him will dwell with him there forever.
Mankind will never be wiped out. So asking whether or not the concept of God would exist if humanity did not describes a scenario that will never happen. In addition to this, God’s existence is entirely independent of creation. The concept of God will exist everywhere because God is, and he is omnipresent.
So, am I concerned about our planet’s future? Not at all. Earth (and mankind as well) is under such special guidance by God that it’s difficult not to be positive.
Pastor Jon Barta
Burbank
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The answer to the first part of this question is yes. Just as the concept of another devastating earthquake in California falls in the “when” and not the “if” category, we humans face threats of our own making — whether they come in the nuclear, overpopulation or global warming flavor — as well as from without.
It is through chance, and not our good behavior, that we haven’t run afoul of an asteroid lately. But the second part of that question is the juicy one. Just as some believers fade away in the face of feats of science, their sense of divine magic and mystery dissipated, others see only the further reaches of God’s glory. These are the people for whom a God who looks like us — albeit with a more flowing beard, better muscle tone among his two-to-eight arms, and eyes that are both more blue and also more pious, for example — is just a placeholder for something we strive to describe. For these people, the god of Mars and beyond is easily the same one who chose a burning bush as its mouthpiece a few thousand years ago.
The Unitarian Universalist view (if UUs can be said to have a view on anything) might be more in keeping with an oft-referenced conversation between French physicist Pierre Laplace and Napoleon Bonaparte around 1802. Bonaparte, when presented Laplace’s five-volume “Celestial Mechanics,” is said to have ribbed Laplace about how there wasn’t a single mention of the deity in the massive work. Laplace is alleged to have said, “I had no need of that hypothesis.”
Some could say that Laplace had ruled out divine intervention in the creation of the universe, while others might say he simply relieved God of the tedious and gassy mechanics of universe-building to focus on the infinitely more complex construction of the soul. Still, some people might be disappointed when they find out that God is planet-agnostic.
Marty Barrett
Vice President
Unitarian Universalist Church of the Verdugo Hills (UUVerdugo)
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I think Stephen Hawking should get out more, but he is chair-bound, and like so many sequestered city dwellers, frets about Earth’s population and pines for life in manmade cubicles on other planets without the abundance of Earth.
Earth is unique, and I believe, along with many scientists, astrophysicists, astronomers, etc., that Earth is uniquely geared toward man’s survival. It is made for us, it sustains us, it caters to us, and it is our intended home as imagined by God. I know Hawking has no other option in theorizing mankind’s earthly doom, as he firmly rejects God (without scientific certainty). He cannot countenance a creator beyond time, yet he cannot explain how everything exploded into existence from nothing. There must have been something or there would be nothing, but because there is something, it is intellectually reasonable to believe that an infinite mind beyond time and space designed the whole shebang. Not for Hawking, so he would have us leave this incredibly human-focused place for the harsh climes of lifeless orbs beyond the stars.
Here is what I believe: God is the God of all creation. If there is a life-sustaining planet somewhere in the universe besides ours, he is God of that place all the same. But God has not told us of such a thing, has not alluded to such, and has conveyed to us the blessedness of this current place, its spiritual and physical travail, and its future glory in absolute perfection. As a Christian, I await that day. In the meantime, I suggest people worried about overpopulation start looking to all the deserts, the Grand Canyon, the vast plains, the mountains, the ocean trenches, and if needs be, colonize those places first. If Christ’s Second Coming tarries, those should sustain us countless thousands of more years. No, I believe we should care for this planet and trust that God has not left our uniquely engineered home to a meaningless fate.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1 NIV).
Rev. Bryan A. Griem
Tujunga