Dr Paul Allen

Tidal force as appearance of Gravity force (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) It's almost an institution, in our culture, in our nation, to describe God as a  higher power , something greater than ourselves. What's that, "the force be with you"? What is this higher power— gravity , lightning, earthquakes ? Now one thing about this nebulous, amorphous, nameless, characterless power, is that first of all it is impersonal , and second of all and most important, it is amoral. See, there's an upside and a downside to worshiping a higher power—a nameless, faceless, force like gravity, or cosmic dust , or lightning, or thunder . Here's the upside to a sinner. A force that is impersonal and amoral makes no ethical demands on anybody. Gravity does not make judgments about people's behavior unless they jump out of windows six-stories high. But even at that, there is no personal condemnation that comes from gravity, or an earthquake. Gravity has no voice; it sa...

AUSTRALIAN researchers believe they may be on the brink of rewriting the history of the universe. A paper being published in a US physics journal suggests it may be possible to view "cracks" in the universe that would support the theory of "quantum graphity", considered to be the holy grail of physics. The team of researchers from the University of Melbourne and RMIT say that instead of thinking of the start of the universe as being a big bang, we should imagine it as a cooling of water into ice."Think of the early universe as being like a liquid," Melbourne University theoretical physics researcher James Quach said."Then as the universe cools, it ` crystalises '."The reason we use the water analogy is water is without form."In the beginning there wasn't even space, space did not exist because there was no form." Their research rests on a school of thought that has emerged recently to suggest space is made of indivisibl...

Image via Wikipedia Albert Einstein was once asked by a student , “Dr. Einstein, how many feet are there in a mile?” To the utter astonishment of the student, Einstein replied, “I don’t know.” The student was sure the great professor was joking. Surely Einstein would know a simple fact that every schoolchild is required to memorize. But Einstein wasn’t joking.  When the student pressed for an explanation of this gap in Einstein’s knowledge, he declared, “I make it a rule not to clutter my mind with simple information that I can find in a book in five minutes.” Einstein was not interested in trivial data.  His passion was to explore the deep things of the universe. His passion for mathematical and physical truth made him a pivotal fixture in modern world history. We are called to similar passion, a passion to know God .  A thirst for the knowledge of God should drive us to drink deeply at the fountain of Scripture. We are equipped with more than enough unh...

Image via Wikipedia The news outlets are abuzz with reports of some provocative claims made in Stephen Hawking ’s latest book,  The Grand Design , which is due for release on Tuesday. For obvious reasons I haven’t yet read the book, so I don’t know the broader context of his claims or how he supports them. However, since the claims in question have been widely quoted, and several folk have already asked me about them, I’ll offer a few tentative comments (with all the necessary caveats assumed). Here are Hawking’s statements as reported by the  Telegraph  (and by numerous other outlets): 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. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going. In the first place, I have to assume that Hawking is speaking loosely when he says that “...

Professor Stephen Hawking is a remarkable human being. His courage and tenacity are an inspiration to all. His work on the theory of gravity has changed the way the field of physics is taught. But, when he crosses that border from science to theology, his worldview leads him into abject disaster. By any measure, Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous and influential figures in modern science. For thirty years, he served as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge , and his career before and after his decades in that post is the stuff of scientific legend. He is also probably the longest-living person ever to be diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [ALS], and the very fact that he has been productive since that diagnosis at age 21 is a testimony to his sense of personal mission and sheer determination. Professor Hawking is out with a new book, and in  The Grand Design , he, along with co-author Leonard Mlodinow , now presses his case against...

Image via Wikipedia Have you ever watched a dog chase its shadow? It can be a comical sight. Mistaking the shadow for something concrete and catchable, the dog yaps at it and tries to chase it down. Time after time, the dog dramatically pounces on the shadow, expecting to pin it to the ground. Yet, no matter how hard the dog tries, the shadow always eludes its grasp. We laugh at the silliness of a dog's futile attempt to catch a shadow, but it's not nearly as funny to watch a person try the same routine. Unfortunately, that's just what many leaders do in life. They chase after a shadow of success, not realizing that what they're pursuing lacks depth and substance. They're running after an illusion of success rather than tracking down the real thing. I've found that there are two core fallacies that cause us to have a shadowy view of success. Let's take a moment to look at each one in greater detail. Fallacy #1: We see success as a place instead of a proce...