In Monty Python's movie The Life of Brian, which was a spoof on the Life of Jesus, Jesus was giving the Sermon on the Mount. The rabble at the bottom of the mount and at the back of the crowd had a hard time hearing what Jesus was saying. Jesus had just said Blessed are the peacemakers. The spectators misheard the quote.
"Spectator I: I think it was "Blessed are the cheesemakers".
Mrs. Gregory: Aha, what's so special about the cheesemakers?
Gregory: Well, obviously it's not meant to be taken literally; it refers to any manufacturers of dairy products."
This actually illustrates two biblical points. They are related to the real-life news that famous physicist Stephen Hawking has found a way to account for the Big Bang theory without God. "The Big Bang was strange -- and we still don't understand it, said Professor Stephen Hawking in his latest speech. But whatever happened in the first seconds of creation, it didn't take God's help. Our universe did not require the intervention of any divine being, he said."
The Hawking headline -
Stephen Hawking lays out case for Big Bang without God
“Our universe didn't need any divine help to burst into being, famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking told a packed house here at the California Institute of Technology Tuesday night. Many people had begun queuing up for free tickets to Hawking's 8:00 p.m lecture, titled "The Origin of the Universe," 12 hours earlier. By 6:00 p.m. local time, the line was about a quarter-mile long. Stephen Hawking began the event by reciting an African creation myth, and rapidly moved on to big questions such as, Why are we here?”
“He noted that many people still seek a divine solution to counter the theories of curious physicists, and at one point, he quipped, “What was God doing before the divine creation? Was he preparing hell for people who asked such questions?”
Yes. Yes, He was. Well, actually He was preparing hell for the devil and his angels who rebelled against His authority, (Matthew 25:41), not for those who ponder Him and His ways. And speaking of pondering God, the creation, and hell, why does Mr hawking need to mention all three if he does not believe in them? Hmm? The article continues,
“Therefore, time began at the moment of singularity, [Big Bang] and this has likely occurred only once, Hawking said.”
Again, correct. God made the universe “in the beginning.” (Genesis 1:1). Until creation, time did not exist, and God's existence is completely separate from the creation of the universe. Answers in Genesis covers this in their essay
What Was God Doing Before Creation?
In addition, Answers In Genesis explains the universe's creation from an evolutionary point of view--
"The big bang is the model that a majority of evolutionary scientists believe best explains the origin of the universe. This is why the textbooks present the big bang model as the history of the universe. The big bang suggests that the universe came into existence 13.7 billion years ago. The entire universe was contained in an infinitely small point known as a singularity. This singularity began to expand slowly, then extremely rapidly, and then slowly again, though there is no reason that such changes in rate had to happen. Over time, stars and galaxies began to form through natural processes. These galaxies continue to move away from one another. It is claimed that the biblical time span of 6,000 years cannot explain how light could reach earth from the distant parts of the universe."
That, of course, reflects Mr Hawking's point of view. Now what does this have to do with Monty Python and cheese? Easy. You can see that despite Hawking’s great intellect in understanding the deep mechanisms of the universe, he has entirely missed the boat on understanding its origins, its creation, and its sustainer.
The two comments made by the actors in the Life of Brian movie perfectly mirror the errors the bible says the unsaved will make, and indeed, Hawking is making. (I know Life of Brian is a movie, stay with me here. Besides, secular actors write the script, so the analogy still applies to examining things the unsaved say). The first comment in Life of Brian I’d mentioned is --
“Blessed are the cheesemakers.”
Of course Jesus had said “Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:9). The scene in the movie where the spectators turn to each other and talk about the cheesemakers is indicative of how people misunderstand God’s word. Get this though- they deliberately misunderstand! They purposefully misunderstand what He has said and they go no further in delving into what it may mean. Any idiot knows the cheesemakers won’t inherit the earth (to use the movie example of a scriptural misunderstanding) but the secular, unsaved person doesn’t try to figure out what He really said no matter how obviously wrong they are in interpreting it.
Romans 1:18 says “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”
2 Peter 3:4-5 reminds us also that the unsaved know the truth but they deliberately suppress it--
“They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,
In other words, they KNOW the cheesemakers shall not inherit the earth.
The second part of the comment that well illustrates the attitude of the unsaved is the petulance, jealousy, and covetousness of the unsaved person reflected in the second part of the movie comment: “Why should they get it?” What's so special about them?
Rather than rise to the occasion and ask, “What do I need to do to be blessed?” the unsaved person, who is low, tries to bring others down to their level. No one tries to go higher, take the high road. They always think, well I’m down here in the muck, why should they get anything better or different?
Hawking’s endeavor to try and explain the universe without God is a sad example of how those with blinded minds act. If he doesn’t believe in God, why spend time and lecture energy explaining the universe’s existence without God?
Paul warned us in Colossians 2:8 of the kind of vain philosophies such as those Mr Hawking is making:
"See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ."
And the worst part is, people lined up 12 hours in advance and for a quarter mile to hear what they knew would be false notions, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.The Lord God is amazing, and His word is true and forever right.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Below, a document I made from Answers In Genesis and quotes from the Space.com explanation of Mr Hawking's stance on the big bang.
