Atheist Devotional #240--Stephen Hawking: "There is no heaven; it's a fairy story"

The soul is energy. It is not hard-wired and it does not die. It just changes form. It is a wireless signal, not hard-wired. The soul goes on. Most likely it spends some time in "heaven", which is quite unlikely to be the heaven of fairy tales. The soul also returns to earth in the new body of a new life. It embraces new challenges and grows with each reincarnation.

I'm very curious as to how you came to believe this. I'm not being snarky, honest, just wondering how you came to this conclusion. It's like a combination of a couple different religions.

I'm not MaryCatherine, but the way I came to believe this, as well, was... I asked.

I asked for confirmation, clear cut, easy to see confirmation. And I received it.  I don't expect anyone to believe me, but I know that my question was answered.  My beliefs aren't based on anything "religious," but on my own experiences.

I wonder what would happen if Ole Stephen the Super Smart Scientist came out next week and said, "Oh crap. I was wrong. Sorry, folks! Heaven does exist, whodathunk it?" 
Would the people who agree with him now consider him to be a nut and discount him completely? Do you agree with his stance now because it corroborates your own belief? This is the problem I have with giving someone dominion over what I choose to believe... they're just another human being with their own experiences that have shaped their beliefs.

Just because someone is a gifted scientist doesn't make them the All Knowing Expert on all things in life.  I actually find his statement quite arrogant. It's as if he's removed himself from humanity, in a way.  It's a rather megolamaniacal kind of statement to make, actually.


Maybe he's missing the emotion that Einstein refers to in this quote?

Einstein said:

The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead... that deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible Universe, forms my idea of God.


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If Stephen came out next week and said God exists, then I would want to see his proof.

Einstein also said: I cannot imagine a God *****wards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.

My point exactly... without irrefutable proof, what Hawking is saying about heaven not existing is simply another viewpoint from another human being. Right now, he's hypothesizing based on his findings as a scientist... but speaking as if it's a fact. To me, it's no different from a religious zealot telling everyone that they should believe THIS way and ONLY this way. I am open to the possibility that Stephen is right, but from my own experiences, I don't believe as he does.

What's kinda funny is that I don't believe in "Heaven" in the traditional view, either.

If Stephen comes out next week with the proof that God and Heaven exist, I would want proof, too. Of course, it would be all numerical equations and that kind of happy crappy and I would still be sitting there like, "Wha?"  I'd have to trust someone else to decipher it! Can't win for trying! 

As for Einstein, he sure was complex. He's saying he can't IMAGINE a God like that. I take it as him saying that he doesn't believe in a god like what he describes. I don't, either.  At the end of the day, Einstein was human like the rest of us. Granted, he was more intelligent than any of us can even aspire to, but I truly don't think that God can be limited to the world we humans can sense, measure and comprehend. And, I know... atheists have been complaining about that statement for a long time... but I can't find a better way to say it! 

You can't prove a negative.

Stephen Hawking can't PROVE that Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn't exist either, but we can be pretty sure that he doesn't. But because of the small number of Pastafarians on earth, there's no need for Stephen to waste comment about FSM.

 Stephen Hawking has every right in the world to say, "Hey, ya know what? I have studied and come to the conclusion that there is no Heaven. It's MY opinion... based on what I've experienced, studied..."   And you have every right to agree wholeheartedly with him. I have every right to say that my experience in this life has been different and has led me to believe differently.

I think the Flying Spaghetti Monster might exist. For all I know, it's all part of the whole of the universe. I've never seen a Flying Spaghetti Monster, but if someone else has, I'm open to the possibility that it's part of their reality. 

Maybe reincarnation IS real but some people haven't gone around as many times... and that's why we all have differing beliefs.  It's just funny because we can talk and tal****il we all wanna puke, but it's doubtful that everyone will be on the same page, ever. And maybe that's the way it's supposed to be, who knows?  It's interesting to hear all sides, though, at least in my opinion.

IMO, the Easter Bunny doesn't exist, but I can't PROVE it.

Einstein was also an Alchemcist who believed everything on earth was made up of energy. So nanah, nanah, boo boo.

I agree about energy. There just is no soul. Energy doesn't transfer from soul to soul, or lightbulb to lightbulb through the thin air.

But he wasn't a Christian Alchemist like Newton was. (I find that term funny, Christian Alchemist, hahahaha)