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| "God did not create the universe,"
says Hawking
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“Oh yes I did,"
says God.
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| As if to prove the company is aptly named, Yahoo proclaims on its news page “God did not create the universe, says Hawking.” Hawking is an astrophysicist who now has decided to apply principles of physics to metaphysics, philosophy, theology, and so on in a new book. It’s a common aberration which has occurred throughout human history, periodically coming and going like Haley’s comet. The aberration is analogous to a soccer player applying the rules of soccer to baseball, football, basketball, tennis, and so on. What the current Hawking book hype proves has nothing to do with science or theology. It simply proves that Hawking and his publisher are very good at hawking books. If I write a book about the concrete in our nation’s highways, it probably will not be a bestseller. If I write a book that claims the concrete in our nation’s highways causes cancer, it will sell well, will get all kinds of publicity, and will create great excitement among the yahoos of the world. It’s an old marketing technique, an application of the principle cited by journalist/author H. L. Mencken: “No one has ever gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” Hawking says in his book, “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.” He does not explain the origin of the law of gravity. Hawking challenges Isaac Newton’s conclusion that the order of the universe, which is the foundation for physics and all other science, manifests a Creative Intelligence behind the universe. He argues that Newton’s conclusion has been invalidated by the discovery of what appears to be a planet orbiting a star other than the sun in 1992. Hawking does not address whether the Creative Intelligence, which Newton identified as God, is capable of creating a larger universe than we imagine. Because controversy, along with fear and sex, are the primary forces in media news and marketing today, we can expect another news headline at any moment: “Oh yes I did, says God.” -- John Gile |
| How hearts and minds are drawn to Christ |
| One of my favorite priests taught me many years ago that
church doctrines do not win hearts and minds to Christ. Doctrines, sets
of beliefs or principles, are what religious people argue about —
though nobody ever wins that argument. What wins hearts and minds to
Christ are the followers of Christ, clergy and lay people, who make
Christ present to others by the understanding, compassion, and
encouragement they share. Father Phil O'Neil, now Monsignor, was a spiritual father for me in my youth. In his words and, more powerfully, in his actions, he personified Christ for me, made Christ incarnate. When I went astray, as I often did in more ways than I care to remember, he corrected me simply with the disappointment I would see in his eyes. No words were needed. He gave wonderful homilies and provided excellent instruction in the faith firmly centered on the Eucharist, but the most enduring homilies I heard him preach were not delivered from the pulpit. They were delivered in his work to make Christ present on the football field, basketball court, and baseball diamond, in programs he helped establish and foster. Whatever the situation in school or church or home, Father O'Neil was there providing kind, patient, gentle encouragement. Though I know I failed in many ways, I also know I avoided some pitfalls just because I didn't want to disappoint Father O'Neil. In word and action, Father O’Neil taught the core doctrine that Christ articulated and exemplified: we are to love God with all our heart and all our mind and all our soul and all our strength, holding nothing back and not counting the cost — and to love others as ourselves because we cannot love God without loving all of God’s children, starting with those closest to us and including those who annoy and offend and hurt us, intentionally or through ignorance. That doctrine is not complex and complicated, and its truth is manifest in its fruit: where there is true love, the selfless love exemplified by Christ, we are closest to God and to each other. Love creates community; its absence creates disunity. We grow in love through four levels. The lowest level is simply doing no harm in thought or word or deed. The next higher level of love is being the kind of person who helps others when we are asked to help. The next higher level of love is being the kind of person who helps others in need without waiting to be asked. And the highest level of love, the level Christ lived and taught, is being the kind of person who proactively looks for people whom we have the power to help and who renders that help with no thought of recognition or reciprocation — simply seeking to please the Lord from whom all our gifts and powers flow. That is what Father O’Neil and later Father, now Monsignor, Thomas Brady have taught me as much by their actions as by their words. When a Chicago Deacon asked permission to use an excerpt from this website in Archdiocesan "Support Our Priests" and Holy Name Society programs, his email reminded me of Faith-Filled Fathers, Faithful Friends, a book project based on personal accounts from persons around the nation telling the stories of priests whose Eucharistic spirit has provided encouragement, consolation, and inspiration through life's trials and triumphs. I was forced to put that book aside by writing and publishing pressures stemming from other books, and I am under continuing pressure right now, but would like to take up that book again when time and circumstances allow. If you have stories about priests who have made a difference in your life and would like to have them considered for the book, email them to me, send them by snail mail to my office at 1710 N. Main St., Rockford, IL 61103, or fax them to me at 815.968.6600. — John Gile |
| FROM At The Crossroads: A Vision Of Hope: |
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