Learning to Love Any Weather
November 20, 2011
by Diane Berryfor Woodall’s Family Camping Blog Most RVers really enjoy the warmer weather and look forward to spring as the coming of the next camping season. Winter, however, tends to evoke another emotion entirely. If you dread the coming of winter like a harbinger of doom, I challenge you to make peace with weather you do not enjoy. There is beauty in all of nature; some is just a bit harder to see and appreciate. But if you make the effort, you need never be disappointed due to a bad weather day. Here are some thoughts on the subject:
A rainy day camping is better than a sunny day at work!
You may see a rainy day while you are camping as a disappointment. However, that rain can make you enjoy curling up on a couch with a good book. Or perhaps you will choose to spend the day playing games inside the camper and use it as a family bonding experience. Another idea, however, is to outfit the entire with hooded rain ponchos and head out for a hike as the rains begin to fall. Pay close attention to the different sights, sounds and smells of the field or forest covered in a fresh rain bath.
Some people find foggy weather gloomy and depressing, I prefer to see it as mysterious and secretive. If you try, you can learn to appreciate the mysterious silence that is the fog and may even find yourself looking forward to getting lost in it. Marvel at how you can only see a short distance in front of you and that many things just seem to disappear before your eyes…
And, is there anything that makes a toasty fire more delicious than a bitter cold north wind and sharp biting ice crystals hitting you in the face? We almost have to experience weather like that to truly appreciate its opposite—a crackling fire in a cozy room with a comfy chair and a window for you to watch outside. We can learn to appreciate these days for the pleasures they help us to enjoy. Likewise, we can enjoy the time spent outside in weather like that, whether it is attending to pets, accomplishing other outside chores or engaging in a cold weather sport, such as snowmobiling or skiing, for the experience awaiting us at the end.
If the thought of snow, in general,makes you cringe because of the shoveling you have to look forward to, think back to a favorite snowfall from your past, perhaps your childhood. I remember a time when I was in college and we lived in an apartment across the road from a gravel pit. One of the small pits they had dug had filled with water and become a pond. 
Every winter, the pond would freeze over and we would grab our ice skates and head out there as soon as the workers would leave. I have wonderful memories of skating there at dusk on a weekday afternoon when large, fat snowflakes were falling and landing on the ice and my eyelashes. This memory never fails to put me at peace and help me to appreciate even look forward to our next snowfall.
The one thing you can count on in a Wisconsin November is the color gray. In my work as a therapist, I see more people coming more depressed than any other time of the year. Even people who are not diagnosed with depression!
When I complain to my weather-loving husband, my cross-country skier husband says “I just look at November as the predecessor to a winter full of snow!” He walks around the house actually excited that the skies are gray. Even his persistent enthusiasm cannot lighten my mood so if anyone has other ideas about how to appreciate November, I would love to hear them.
And, finally, remember, it’s weather. In most places, if you give it an hour or two, unless you’re talking November in Wisconsin, it will change anyway! For more information about camping, browse additional camping [5] articles at Woodall’s main site.
reprinted with permission
RV Boondocking Tips
October 23, 2011
by Steve Gillman What is RV boondocking? It is simply camping in your recreatinal vehicle in an area with limited or no facilities. In many areas of the west, you can just drive into the desert, and stay free for up to two weeks. This is the case on most BLM (Bureau Of Land Management) and national forest lands. How far you have to move to stay another two weeks is open to interpretation, but is probably isn’t far.Long Term RV Boondocking on BLM Land
With the growing popularity of boondocking, the BLM has begun to establish areas for longer stays, particularly in Arizona. The permit fee is around $140 now, but this allows you to stay up to six months, and you’ll have pump stations, dumpsters and water available. That’s cheaper than paying property taxes or rent for a lot to park on.
Boondocking Communities
Ask around when you are in the desert southwest, and you’ll find there are whole RV communities that form every winter. There are temporary towns like “Slab City” in California, complete with bookstores, grocery vendors, and other businesses run by RVers. When summer returns, these boondock communities disappear, and reappear again the following winter.
Perhaps the largest gathering of RV boondockers is in Quartzite, Arizona. Up to several hundred thousand people spend at least part of the year boondocking here. Quartzite is near the California border, on Interstate 10, only 20 miles from the Colorado River. It’s surrounded by BLM lands, and it’s famous for gem shows and swap meets, and the multiplying of its population each winter.
Other RV Boondocking Opportunities
Look, and you’ll find “hidden” places where you can park your RV for a week or a month in the desert southwest. Some are free, and others just inexpensive. For example, the Hot Well Dunes Recreation Area, north of Bowie, Arizona, costs $3 per night, but has nice hotsprings and plenty of wildlife. You can get an annual permit for $30, but you’re limited to two weeks per month (permits are sold at the BLM office in Safford). Outside of the fenced area you can stay free, but then you don’t get the hotsprings and shaded picnic tables.
There are many other areas like the Hot Well Dunes for cheap or free RV boondocking. The Bureau of Land Management can tell you what’s available under their jurisdiction. The Woodall’s campground guide lists campgrounds that are free. Also, just keep your eyes open for other RVs parked out in the desert or forest, and ask around.
About The Author
Steve Gillman hit the road at sixteen, and traveled the U.S. and Mexico alone at 17. Now 40, he travels with his wife Ana, whom he met in Ecuador. To read their stories, tips and travel information, visit: www.EverythingAboutTravel.com.
Is An RV Business For You?
September 5, 2011
by Jaimie Hall Bruzenakas appeared on RV Home Yet?
In the other article, “Entrepreneurs take niche goods, services to road for customers’ convenience,” three entrepreneurs are featured: an RV mobile repair business, a mobile car detailing service, and a mobile custom tanning and salon. The last does custom air-brush tanning. According to the article, what helps a mobile business succeed is finding the right niche or having high quality if you’re providing service in a broader specialty. Maybe the party bus in the first article is a niche that doesn’t jive with the market.
How does this apply to RVers who want to travel in their RVs rather than be based in one community? Having a mobile business isn’t as easy. For professions such as cosmetology that requires a license in each state, a mobile business would not work as well. Plus, a beautician relies on developing a clientele. Moving around frequently would not allow that to happen unless you came each year during a certain season. For example, some who cuts hair and spends each winter in the same snowbird park would be able to develop a clientele over time.
Another restriction is getting the word out. If you travel constantly, people may not see you enough to get familiar with you. Often customers need to see you or hear about you several times before feeling comfortable enough to buy from you. If you were parked at an RV park for a while, you would need permission from the owner, who might want a cut. And, you probably will need a local business license or at least a tax ID to run a business there.
The mobile businesses I’ve seen work provide services for RVs, such as mobile repair, repairing windshields, computer repair, and cleaning carpets. They may have a sign on their RV or their tow or toad, letting RVers know about their business. Some set up at RV events or at RV gathering places like Quartzsite, AZ in January. I’ve also met RVers who cut hair and give massages, but they do it by word of mouth since they are not licensed. Keep in mind if you offer services at RV rallies, you may be required to get a booth. There are always costs of doing business!
If you tow a cargo trailer or even have a toy hauler converted into some sort of workshop, there are more possibilities. Just pick a business that doesn’t need a state license and make sure you follow the state and local regulations for paying business license fees and taxes. Knowing lots of RVers or going to rallies or where they gather also helps. It could be a viable way to make a living on the road.
Jaimie Hall Bruzenak
Please add your comment below or email Jamie at calamityjaimie@gmail.comreprinted with permission
Help Locate Campground Churches
February 23, 2011
By Duane Careb
President RVchurchesUSA
in the process of identifying campgrounds across the country (including Alaska) that conduct on-site church services.
Part of our mission is to acknowledge campground owner’s passion to serve Christ known to all RVers via our searchable database- at no cost!
We attempt to personally contact the owners in an effort to verify the existence of services and, when possible, talk to those involved in it’s administration – primarily the speakers. Although time consuming, these interviews have been very encouraging to both the campground owners and our ministry staff, as well.
The best resource for identifying these existing services is YOU!
No doubt, other RVers have told you about campgrounds hosting services or you personally have stayed at a campground that offered them.
Please take a moment and help us identify the campgrounds by simply completing the “Comments” section below. Give us as much information as possible – name, location, website, etc. We’ll do the rest!
You can serve other RVers visiting RVchurchesUSA daily who search our database. Of course, as others share their knowledge, you become the benefactor, as well. In this way, it’s a win-win scenario for all of us – campground owners, RVers and the Kingdom!
Don’t forget to check out our great articles emphasizing spiritual growth and secular RV-lifestyle as well as our resource page for RVers.
Thanks for your participation.
Blessings!
Christmas Gift for Any RVer!
December 11, 2010
By Duane CarebPresident RVchurchesUSA Erika and I love to watch movies at home as well on the road in our motor coach, “Blessing”. It has become a
tradition that each time we head out for another adventure in the rig, we excitedly plan to watch the hilarious movie, “RV” staring Robin Williams and Kristin Chenoweth.
Seriously, this is such a fun depiction of a rookie RVer who experiences much of what experienced RVers pray won’t happen to them! Did I mention that it is great for the entire family?
Personally, I think every RVer should have this movie in their entertainment repertoire. It can help keep us all humble.
That’s why I think it would make a great Christmas gift for any RVer!
The executive Bob Munro is stressed, feeling threatened of losing his job and his lifestyle, since his abusive boss Todd Mallory hired the Stanford’s geek Laird to work in their soda’s company. Bob has promised his wife Jamie Munro, his teenage daughter Cassie Munro and his young son Carl Munro to spend vacations in Hawaii, but Todd demands him to prepare a presentation and attend a business meeting with the owners of a family company in a merging operation scheduled in the same period. Bob hides the truth to his family, rents a recreational vehicle and tries to convince his dysfunctional family that a road trip to the Colorado Rocky Mountains would be good to bring old values back to their family. After many incidents and while in the trailers parking area, the rookie Bob is helped by the bizarre but friendly Gornicke family. They escape from the Gornickes and initiate a journey of difficulties and leaning, retrieving their forgotten family bonds.
Genre: Comedy, Adventure, Family
Starring: Brian Howe, Jeff Daniels, Robin Williams, Kristin Chenoweth, Hunter Parrish, Richard Ian Cox, Cheryl Hines, Will Arnett, Josh Hutcherson, Erika-Shaye Gair, Alex Ferris, Tony Hale, Joanna ‘JoJo’ Levesque, Chloe Sonnenfeld, Veronika Sztopa
Available Quality: Hi Def, iPod
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Country: Germany, USA, UK
Year: 2006
Runtime: 1:39:00
IMDB Rating: 5.5/10 (15876 votes)
Who Are You?
December 10, 2010
by John ImlerJohn is an RVchurchesUSA Ambassador and author of It’s Never Too Late No, I don’t mean what did your parents name you but who are you? It is important that
each of us really know who we are. You and I have just two things in common: we are God’s creation and we were formed in our mothers’ wombs (Psalms 139:13-16). There our similarities end.
Each of us, though wonderfully made (Psalms 139:14), is unique. You are a marvel. In the entire world there is no one else exactly like you and, in all the years that have passed since creation, there has never been anyone like you. You are not like your father, mother, brother, or sister. Although you share some of their characteristics, you are different. You are you.
According to the Scriptures, each of us is endowed by our Creator with different talents and gifts (Romans 12:6). While the Scriptures admonish us to “deny” ourselves (Matt. 16:24), I fear that we often misinterpret that verse. Webster defines the word deny as “to declare untrue.” It is not the denying of who we are that Jesus spoke about but rather the choice of who we follow: the one true God or our own gods (worldly things).
Sometimes we as believers feel it is wrong to accept a complement after we have used our God-given talents and gifts in His service. We somehow feel we must be self-degrading to be humble. In doing so, are we denying the person our Creator made us? Should we not in our service to Him let our lights shine before men, that they may see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven (Matt. 5:16).
Yes, as believers, the Holy Spirit assists us in serving our Master, but will He not be using the gifts and talents that God gave us? Don’t forget who you really are. You are unique and wonderfully made! The Psalmist acknowledged who he was when he declared, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderful made” (Psalms 139:14).
Don’t forget in this Thanksgiving season to thank God for the person you are. Ask Him to use you for His glory in the coming Christmas Season and in the New Year.
John welcomes your comments either below or email him directly at john@faithrescued.comBuying Fresh Food On the Road
December 9, 2010
by RA Manseauas appeared on Woodall’s Family Camping Blog Buying fresh food on the road can be challenging. Most of us want to buy the best and most
nutritious food for our families, at a price we can afford.
Fresh produce from the local farmers market, fresh seafood from the local fish market and good restaurants are everywhere, but how do we find them when in a strange place?
Local farmers markets are fairly easy to find. And, nothing beats a farmers market for fresh except right of the plant. Most Local Farmers Markets, in the United States, can be found on the geographical search provided by the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service. This site is a great resource and extremely user friendly.
How about buying fish? With the all the worries about pollutants and mercury levels how do you know which fish are safe from one region to the next? The Monterey Bay Aquarium provides a pocket guide for each region of the USA. You can download the guide at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Website. I carry the “Seafood Watch” card in my purse all the time. I find it very helpful even in my home town.
For those that are looking for a good restaurant in a new city, I recommend checking out the parking lots. If the local firefighters, police, ambulance drivers or construction workers are dinning there, the food is most likely very good. People in those occupations tend to dine out a lot. So, they usually know the best places to go without spending your whole paycheck on one meal.
Buying fresh food on the road when you don’t have the time to hit the Local Farmers Market is only a smile and a question away. If you want to know which local grocery store has the best produce or the best meat counter, don’t be afraid to ask a local on the street. I have found that most people are friendly and helpful when given the opportunity to share their opinion.
Enjoy your trip and I hope you find buying fresh food on the road to be a fun extension of your vacation experience.
Volunteering – Who Really Benefits?
December 8, 2010
By Duane CarebPresident RVchurchesUSA Volunteering is very noble, necessary and noticeable. But have you ever considered who benefits more – the recipient of your efforts or you?
Wikipedia defines Volunteerism as the willingness of people to work on behalf of others without being motivated by financial or material gain.
I love that definition because it is so succinct:
- Willingness of people – as in God’s will manifested through you. In Christianity, that’s referred to as submission to His will or following a Godly leading. A cause stirs within you that just won’t go away.
Soon, that leading develops into a passion for the cause. Time after time you are emotionally touched by this cause and soon find your self sincerely desiring to respond in some way which leads to ………
- Working on behalf of others – as in expelling an effort to be “used” to the degree that a personal sacrifice ensues. To volunteer means to go “beyond” the realm of the normal work load most of us execute because of financial needs, among other reasons.
It is during this stage of the definition that we joyfully grasp at any one of the “gifts” we each possess such as teaching, administrating, helping, leading and (yes) even following! Actually there are twenty three “spiritual gifts” described in the Bible that fit the bill for volunteering. We all have them – sometimes it takes the act of volunteering to bring them out which leads to ………
- Volunteering without being motivated by financial or material gain – as in not having any expectations of compensation (monetary or tangible) or acknowledgment.
To not expect anything in return for volunteering is the essence of submission mentioned earlier. Whether we processed the thought of serving others in some meaningful way for quite a while or made an impromptu decision based on the genuine passion of our heart, having realistic expectations – no compensation or acknowledgment – is the key to volunteering joyfully.
Within this ministry to serve the RV Community there are many opportunities to volunteer.
The mission of our ministry is to encourage and equip campground owners to start or maintain on-site nondenominational church services or Bible studies.
Many campground owners desire to serve the RV Community’s needs for spiritual growth and outreach as evidenced by the emails we receive. However, many owners feel ill equipped to organize, administer or speak at their church services.
Our Ambassador Club bridges that gap by providing serving opportunities to retired or active pastors, church outreach ministries, experienced Bible Study leaders, chaplains and other spiritually mature followers of Jesus Christ. All Ambassadors possess a passion to serve as speakers, administrators or worship leaders to campground owners in their area. They may also mentor owners as they develop on-site programs for their patrons and any local residents who may attend services as well.
The Ambassador Club members serve with zeal beyond their expertise and with focused purpose – happy to lift the spirits of the recipients.
Regardless of the type organization you volunteer for – political, educational, medical, religious etc – I challenge you to serve with passion, excellence, intention, joy and an encouraging word.
There is a book I read almost every day that says it all: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Phil 2: 3-5 The book, of course, is the Bible which offers excellent guidance for all who desire to volunteer.
By volunteering one can gain experience in areas outside their “comfort zone”, help meet real needs of recipients, realize personal satisfaction putting the needs of others ahead of their own and fulfilling a passion for a cause that requires personal sacrifice.
Try volunteering then evaluate who benefits most – the recipient or you!
You may comment below or contact Duane at info@rvchurchesusa.org
Should You Cover Your RV?
November 30, 2010
by Ashley Gannon
for RVT.com Blogs
In northern states, snow and ice take a similar toll. Excessive moisture, particularly in humid southern states, can cause mold growth. And air pollution is constantly chipping away at your RV’s exterior finish.
Obviously, regular maintenance and indoor storage are the best ways to protect your RV investment. But few people have a garage large enough to house their RV. Rented storage lockers and winter storage facilities are an option for some, but most RVers keep their RV parked in the driveway or backyard.
Open-sided shelters are a good choice as they protect your RV’s roof from sun, rain and debris, while allowing plenty of air flow to prevent mold growth. Hard-roofed and canvas shelters are available for RVs.
Special RV covers are another choice. Covers should be made of breathable fabric and sized to fit the make and model of your RV. The two biggest problems with covers are chaffing and mold from moisture accumulation. Tightly securing the cover and parking your RV where it is protected from the wind will minimize chaffing. Inspect your RV periodically for moisture infiltration to prevent mold.
A Look at Snowbirds
October 21, 2010
by Rex Vogel as appeared on Woodall’s Family Camping Bloga regular contributing author to RVchurchesUSA
A major concentration of snowbirds in Ol' Airy Zonie occurs each winter in the Phoenix area. Pictured above is Usery Mountain Regional Park located north of Mesa. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved
Long before winter’s blustery chill begins to sting the bones, plans are being made by millions of Canadians, Northeasters, Midwesterners, and those in the rainy Northwestern United States to seek the warmer climes of the south. It’s an interesting phenomenon that occurs each year and mimics the migration ritual of our feathered friends.
Snowbirds flock to Ol’ Airy Zonie, Southern Texas, Florida, and other Sunbelt states and Mexico to avoid winter’s bite, snow and blowing snow, and treacherous icy sidewalks and streets. Northern Europeans are also known to migrate to the U.S. Sunbelt, adding to these communities of seasonal residents.
Snowbirds are typically retired seniors who have the desire and financial ability to be away from home for extended periods of time. Many take their home-on-wheels with them in the form of a recreational vehicle while others maintain a second home or rental accommodation in a warmer location.
As our population ages the number of people considering this lifestyle increases.
We have been making this trip for the past 13 years in an RV—first with a fifth-wheel trailer and now in a motorhome.
There are numerous advantages to the snowbird lifestyle:
* No snow to shovel or trod through
* No bundling up in warm sweaters, winter overcoats, and snow boots
* Taking part in outdoor activities during winter months
* Ability to maintain friendships in two or more communities
* Sense of community with other snowbirds
* Break in the monotony of dull and dreary winter days
Despite the many positive benefits, the snowbird lifestyle is not for everyone. For some it may be wise to gradually evolve into the lifestyle to determine if it’s for them. Snowbirding can be tried on a short term basis of one or two months to determine if there’s a fit with one’s individual preferences.
Birding attracts many snowbirds to the Rio Grand Valley of South Texas. Pictured above is the beautiful green jay. © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved
Surprisingly there are disadvantages to being a Snowbird:
* Missing out on Christmas with the grandchildren
* Not being a permanent part of any one community
* Missing family and friends
* Finding someone to look after your home during while “on the road”
* Security and safety issues
* Increased financial burdens
* Additional cross-border issues for Canadians
We find the snowbird lifestyle in an RV to our liking since we can take our home with us when the cold weather arrives and snow begins to falls. We enjoy the warmer climes while their neighbors up north are shoveling snow. For us the snowbird lifestyle is the best of both worlds.
If you have been dreaming about exploring the road less traveled, now is the time to stop dreaming and hit the road in a recreational vehicle.
Worth Pondering…
We have chosen to be reasonably warm year-round, so we are snowbirds. Every year when I hear the honks of the Canada geese overhead at our home, something in my genes starts pulling my inner-compass to the South. And an inner voice whispers: “Surely you’re as smart as a goose.” Feeling that I am at least as smart as a silly goose, I line up the motorhome with that compass pointer and head for the Sun Belt.
This article is the first in an ongoing series on snowbirds and preparation for the snowbird lifestyle.
You may comment on Rex’s article below or contact him at vogelontheroad@gmail.com
Urban Campers Call Wal-Mart ‘Home’
September 17, 2010
as appeared in Woodall’s Campground Management It’s perhaps the forgotten sector of Prince Edward Island’s summer tourism industry.In Summerside, as is the case across Canada and the U.S., owners of recreational vehicles can often be found bunking down for a night or two in the parking lot of Wal-Mart, the Summerside Journal Pioneer reported.
The Wal-Mart camping experience isn’t for those who prefer roughing it in the wilderness.
Still, it’s not uncommon to see several RVs parked at any given time in the lot of the large international box store.
“I’ve done it several times, not on a regular basis,” said Shirley Aldrich while sitting on the front steps of her rig.
“When you’re on the road it’s a neat place to pull in and stop for the night. You can always get your groceries and everything you need at Wal-Mart. It’s one-stop shopping.”
Aldrich and her travelling companions are from Nashville, Tenn., and are visitng the island during a seven-week trip.
Although they weren’t overnighting at Wal-Mart during this visit, Aldrich has enjoyed the experience and its particular charms several times in the past – RV trips of four, even nine months in a row may push some owners into getting creative with their cost-cutting.
Which brings us to the most obvious attraction of spending the night out on the asphalt:
“The price,” says Aldrich.
Yes, Wal-Mart RVing is free of charge.
As some of the other campers explain, that’s been a contentious issue at other Wal-Marts they’ve encountered in North America.
“We’ve run into a couple stores, and it wasn’t the store’s decision, it was a local community decision,” said Bert Moore of Edmonton, vacationing at Summerside’s Wal-Mart with his wife, Lil.
“The store staff said it’s usually because people may be campground owners.”
Aldrich, meanwhile, said stores in Florida stopped the practice simply due to space restrictions – the stores were so busy that Rvs were cutting down on parking spaces.
But if campground owners on the island have concerns with free RVing, it hasn’t been a significant issue in Summerside.
Moore even thinks Wal-Mart parking lots are more clean and safe than some RV parks.
“We find the campgrounds are well-used and not as clean as this is,” he said. “On rainy days, the campgrounds are just a quagmire. We’ve run into a few of them on this trip that we just wished we’d never pulled into.”
As for the economics, many of the campers at Wal-Mart seem to be serving the local economy well. The Moores found a dumping station and fuel at the nearby Esso and breakfast across the parking lot at Maid Marian’s, while also seeking out local coin-operated laundries.
Even better, both Aldrich and Moore said they’ve travelled across most of the island seeing the sights — and spending money.
“We meet a lot of new people in the parking lot,” said Moore. “We all exchange bits of information about where we’ve been and good things to see.”
So the parking lots may not be as serviceable as regular campgounds, Aldrich is willing to sacrifice some awkward moments for the benefits Wal-Mart offers.
“One morning I got up and used the outside shower with my bathing suit on and washed my hair,” she said. “(Wal-Mart) doesn’t have too many amenities — there’s no water, no electricity and no sewer. But you don’t need those things every day.”
Faith Scholars: Stephen Hawking ‘Missing the Point’
September 14, 2010
By Eric YoungChristian Post Reporter Physicist Stephen Hawking made headlines this past
(Photo: AP Photo: / PA Wire, David Parry) In this April 29, 2010, file photo, Stephen Hawking watches the first preview of his new show for the Discovery Channel, Stephen Hawking's Universe.
Newton, who left enduring legacies in mathematics and the natural sciences, had centuries ago warned against using the law of gravity – which he discovered – to view the universe as a mere machine, like a great clock.
“Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done,” the 17th century scientist and non-Trinitarian Anglican stated.
“This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being,” he added.
Hawking, however, says “the universe can and will create itself from nothing” because there is a law such as gravity.
“Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,” he writes in his soon-to-be-released book, The Grand Design. “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper (fuse) and set the universe going.”
While Hawking has long been known to be a deist – believing in the existence of an impersonal god on the evidence of reason and nature only – his denial of a personal god was notably more explicit in the excerpts from his latest work.
In The Grand Design, Hawking refers to the 1992 observation of a planet orbiting a star other than the sun and says it “makes the coincidences of our planetary conditions – the single sun, the lucky combination of Earth-sun distance and solar mass – far less remarkable, and far less compelling as evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings.”
Not surprising, Hawking’s comments sparked a number of responses from Christian apologists and theologians of different faiths.
In the United Kingdom, where Hawking resides, Denis Alexander, director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, said Hawking was “missing the point.”
“Science provides us with a wonderful narrative as to how [existence] may happen, but theology addresses the meaning of the narrative,” he said, according to CNN.
Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, similarly, accused Hawking of making a “misinterpretation” – one that he said “is damaging to religion and science in equal measure.”
“Science is about explanation. Religion is about interpretation,” he wrote in the U.K.-based Times, which first printed excerpts from The Grand Design on Thursday.
“Science takes things apart to see how they work. Religion puts things together to see what they mean. They are different intellectual enterprises,” Sacks added.
Meanwhile, in the United States, scholars at the ministry Reasons To Believe have argued against the idea that God is not necessary because laws such as gravity exist and said even with the laws there is the requirement for something that transcends the universe to bring it into being.
Hawking, said RTB research scholar Dr. Jeffrey Zweerink, “is putting the laws of physics or the mathematics on that basis of … this transcendent entity … that is ultimately responsible for the cause of the beginning of the universe.”
“It’s a transcendent impersonal entity but nonetheless it’s a transcendent entity,” he added.
Furthermore, RTB President and Founder Dr. Hugh Ross said there a “fundamental flaw” in Hawking’s reasoning.
“A fundamental flaw in this Hawking idea is that God is no longer personal, and yet we human beings are personal,” he said in his ministry’s podcast Friday. “We have a mind, we have a spirit, and you’re attributing the development of the human mind, the human spirit, the minds for that matter we see in the higher animals, the personalities that we see in all of us from completely impersonal soul-less and spirit-less laws of physics. How can the lesser produce the greater?”
Like Hawking, RTB scholars agree that God is “the Grand Mathematician” but go further by saying He is more than that.
And, they say, the laws of physics in nature “are a reflection of God’s intimate sustaining care for the universe.”
“From a naturalist perspective, there need not be any laws of physics,” said Zweerink. “But from a Christian perspective, we expect to see these laws of physics given God’s character and what He’s revealed to us.”
With only excerpts of the book having been released, the discussion is expected to continue and expand with the release of Hawking’s upcoming book.
The book, co-authored by physicist Leonard Mlodinow, is scheduled to be published by Bantam Dell on Sept. 9.
The Grand Design is Hawking’s first major work in nearly a decade.
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