Stephen Hawking has said that a belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a “fairy story” for people afraid of death. Well, I’m not afraid of death; in fact, I look forward to it. And yet, as the hymn says, “I Know Whom I Have Believed,” in Jesus Christ, my savior. I believe that He died on the cross for my sins, and that, because of this, I will spend eternity with God. So, could Stephen Hawking be wrong, or am I wrong?
Well, I’ve heard this said: “I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn’t, than live my life as if there isn’t, and die to find out there is.” If I’m wrong, I will have lived my life as a believer in vain. If Stephen Hawking is wrong, he will have lived his life as an unbeliever, only to awaken to the awful truth in his afterlife that he indeed lived his life in vain. Which is better? To believe in God and find out it didn’t matter? Or not to believe and find out that it did?