These questions were raised and answered by Stephen Hawking, the most intelligent (?) Astrophysicist ever who wrote “A Brief History of Time”. Most of these questions are answered elsewhere in this book too.

1) Is there a God?

The very question exists because God exists. In the absence of God, the one who asks this question would not exist at all.

The answer is Yes. Whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. – Heb 11:6. The ungodly and unrighteous men suppress the truth of the existence of God. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For, his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So, they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. – Rom 1:19-21.

2) How did it all begin?

So, there was a beginning! Scientists have moved from a steady state theory to a quantum leap theory lately. It is not a question of whether there was a beginning but how it all began.

In the beginning, God. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. – Gen 1:1. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them. – Exo 20:11. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. – Heb 11:3. God (who) made the world and everything in it. – Acts 17:24. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. – Gen 1:27.

3) Can we predict the future?

No. Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. – Prov 27:1. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known … what will be in the latter days. – Dan 2:28. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His servants the things that must soon take place. – Rev 1:1. Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Jas 4:13,14.

However, God knows the end from the beginning and so can let us know the future – we call these prophecies and they are brought to us from God through His servants. For instance, the arrival of the Medio-Persian, Greek and Roman empires and specific details about some of the rulers were revealed to Prophet Daniel well ahead of time. The most significant of prophecies is the arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth to crush the head of God’s adversary Satan which was predicted many millennia before this happened. The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ was prophesied by the Lord Himself and more about it was revealed to His Apostle John at least two thousand years before today. And everything related to His return is happening now in this world as per the prophecy.

Business forecasting and predictive analysis are heavily dependent on historic and current data derived from various sources and mathematical models built on these data are only informed guesses that give decision-makers a cue to what the future holds; none of this is fool-proof and 100% reliable. “Natural calamities” and “works of God” - "Force majeure" - are still one of the terms and conditions printed in the disclaimer!

4) What is inside a black hole?

While mankind is obsessed with blackholes of which they know very little – they know that matter in a star becomes so dense (mass becomes infinite and volume becomes infinitesimal) that it swallows itself up and everything around it into nothingness; blackholes still defy their logic.

Two-hundred-plus scientists around the globe worked in collusion to put together a photograph of a blackhole named Powehi meaning “adorned fathomless dark creation” (inspired by a Hawaiian chant!); it is only an attempt to stitch together radio (sound?) signals from a galaxy Messler 87 (55 million light years away from our earth which is in the milky-way galaxy?) that saw one of its stars collapse. Big data was collected in half a ton of hard disks and an algorithm was applied to “create” this humbug that received great media coverage.

However, the Scriptures talk about a bottomless pit – equivalent to a blackhole. (Scientists still get their inspiration from the Scriptures!) I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. – Rev 9:1, 2. The souls of the dead descended into this abyss. – Rom 10:7. The angel of the bottomless pit is called Abaddon (Hebrew) and Apollyon (Greek) meaning Destroyer (Satan). – Rev 9:1. A beast representing this angel “was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction” – Rev 17:8. (Or has he already descended from this pit? Read about this elsewhere in ABHOT).

5) Is there other intelligent life in the universe?

If man’s intelligence is termed as “intelligence”, then, God’s folly (in human terms, of course!) is wiser than man’s “intelligence”. The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. – 1Cor 1:25. God is the only wise One. But, beside Him, there are the angels who remained loyal to Him and submit to His will wilfully and rush to do His bidding. He makes His angels spirits; His ministers a flaming fire: - Ps 104:4. There is also the adversary Satan who is mentioned as a creation perfect in wisdom. He fell from the third heaven to the first heaven, which is our atmosphere. He swept down one-third of the angels to the earth. Satan further fell from the first heaven the earth’s atmosphere to the earth while the Lord Jesus was fulfilling His part of the Plan in the Purpose of God on this earth.

The loyal spirit beings in heavenly places are set in a hierarchy – thrones, dominions, angels, principalities and powers – Rom 8:38. The fallen angels have also set themselves in a hierarchy - principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places. – Eph 6:12.

6) Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?

AI is the combined intelligence of men fed into machines so that they can behave like human beings yet without life. There is a limit to the data man can process to information. With the volume of data available today, and the power to process this increasing with the advent of CPUs that can replace millions of human brains at a time and do it rapidly – faster than one human mind can do (neural networks), machines can acquire the power of millions of humans. Today, one machine can replace many people and do things more accurately than the combined effort of these men. But there are other attributes of man that machines can’t imitate or create – like wisdom, love, intuition, common sense, understanding, patience and humaneness. Nor can they exceed the capability of the natural ones – like for instance the sense organs and the human brain. There is a great possibility that machines can outsmart mankind in intelligence, but they are still machines. God can never be outsmarted – not by Satan, mankind or machines. Nor can the children of God be. All that God needs to shut them up is a word and everything would come to a standstill.

7) How do we shape the future?

The future of every man born here on this earth is left to the decision of the individual. Every man has been given a freewill to choose to either submit to God and live with Him forever beyond this life or rebel against Him, do one’s own will and end up in the lake of fire and brimstone that has been destined for God’s enemy, Satan and his angels. Those who submit to God’s will should accept His way of getting to know Him – through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Sin, which stands between man and God is forgiven by God if we recognize that Jesus shed His blood for the remission of our sins and bore our punishment on the cross. One should believe He rose again assuring us eternal life with Him when we choose to follow Him and live a life pleasing Him as directed in the Scriptures. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. – John 3:16.

8) Will we survive on Earth?

The survival of the fittest does not pop up here anymore! The question is, if at all we survive (that itself is a big question mark?!) where will it be?

The future of this earth and the universe we live in have been determined by God even before they were created. God has a purpose for creating these and they are functioning as per His plan. As per that plan, there is an end determined for this earth and heavens we see now. These will pass away giving place to a new heaven and a new earth on which will dwell God’s chosen ones – His children. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. – 1 Pet 3:10-12. The Sons of God will be gathered on the new earth to live with their Saviour forever in a state of bliss.

9) Should we colonise space?

Colonizing space – Moon? Mars? Satellites around the earth? – far-fetched imagination of foolish men.
God made the universe but has given this earth as habitation for His special creation – man. The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath He given to the children of men. – Ps 115:16. This is the place that is conducive to life and can sustain us with its atmosphere, water and ideal temperature. The various physical factors that are required for the stability of the earth is fine-tuned here in such a way that these are not available anywhere outside. We must also remember that colonising space is not just transporting mankind there but the entire environment – atmosphere, water, plants, animals et al.

10) Is time travel possible?

No. Mankind can travel distances in a certain time, not travel time in a certain time – unless in his vain imagination. There are no possible means of travelling back and forth in time – none can gain a second more or delay a second in one’s life beyond the time allotted for every individual. According to Astrophysicists time travel requires a vehicle that would travel faster than light – but this is only hypothetical and will exist in theory forever. The practicality of travelling to the previous second is itself an impossibility as per the concept of “arrow of time”– let alone travelling to the last century and meeting Hitler or travelling to the next decade to see the technological advancements of that moment. However, God has revealed to His servants – men, of course – in the form of visions and dreams what would happen in the future which is recorded in the Scriptures. And a major portion of them are symbols and signs – not literal.