Stephen Hawking Is "Very Ill" In Hospital

C S Miller writes "Not much more to add. The BBC is reporting that 'Stephen Hawking is "very ill" in hospital.' He has had a few health scares before, and as a post-graduate he was told he didn't have much longer to live; he's now 67."

Oh dear

[chunk08]

I do hope he pulls through, he is an amazing man.

Re:Oh dear

[sootman]

And one hell of a rapper. [mchawking.com]

Re:Oh dear

[Penguinshit]

Stephen Hawking is a major reason that I am alive today. When I was diagnosed in 2005, my first thought was "if Professor Hawking can do it so can I". It's the only ground where we are equal so I'm going for it (although I've pulled into a 12' barrel over a reef in Fiji and I don't think the Professor ever imagined doing that ).

Re:Oh dear

[femtobyte]

Parent is modded funny, but this is actually a serious and frequently made argument both outside and inside of Christianity. Many Christian denominations --- most notably, Roman Catholicism --- hold that doing a sufficient amount of good works is a necessary prerequisite for salvation, and worry that if salvation is assured by grace and faith alone, then good works will languish.

The response to this, ever since the Reformation and the split of Lutheranism from Roman Catholicism over this very issue, is that we can trust God that good works will not languish. Rather, that one who accepts the Good News promise of salvation will be all the more driven, out of response to God's love and through the working of the spirit, to strive to be the servant of all, loving others as God first loved them. Thus good works still happen, though as the result and response rather than the cause of God's love for us.

Re:Oh dear

[Gerzel]

I have seen many people who supposedly accepted JC and do not do terribly good works and those who haven't who are almost saintly.

The idea that the acceptance will make good works be done does not seem to bear out in practice.

My personal belief is that God, if he truly exists and is worthy of worship, has already forgiven all souls. We may gain a wider understanding of our actions after death and that understanding and our own lack of how we behaved is what will drag us down. In other words the "fires" of Hell are not the creation of a just God but rather of the soul's own guilt.