From Daily Planet Staff Reports

MONTREAT —  Following his Nov. 17 address on “Faith and Science” at Montreat College, Dr. Gerald Schroeder fielded questions from the crowd.

A man asked about the pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope.

“If there is life elsewhere in the universe, then it’s an absolute indication there is a God,” Schroeder replied. “You can get anything (even life) once, by chance, but it’s so unlikely (to be found in two places), unless God made it happen.”

A man asked about Schroeder’s view of the age of the universe.

“It depends on two perceptions of time,” Schroeder answered. These include 6,000 years, according to the literal Biblical understanding, and 14 to 15 billion years, for the scientific opinion, based on the Big Bang theory.

Regarding the Biblical explanation, the scientist said this might be the result of time confusion since “from Adam forward, every passage of time is human land-based,” while  “the view of time of the six days of Genesis in the Bible is unique — it’s the only reference (of time) from the beginning looking forward.”

In referring to the growing popularity of today’s atheist writers and Schroeder’s own depiction of God and life as “tough,” a Daily Planet reporter asked Schroeder for his response to the book “God Is Not Great” by British journalist and provocateur Christopher Hitchens.

Hitchens, through his book, presents “a crayon image of God,” Schroeder replied. The fact is, that is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is tough love.

“The God that they argue against is a God that doesn’t exist. It’s very easy to do. And they’re right — that God doesn’t exist. He never did. That’s not the Biblical God, who does exist.

“They’re 100 percent correct” that the child’s conception of God that they depict” is in no way “great.” However, “they’re perception is of a God that doesn’t exist.”

As for how God is great, he suggested carefully reading the Bible about God’s “tough love” for mankind, and also learning through science that “the universe is magnificent.”

A man asked for Schroeder’s view of petitionary prayer.

“Prayers are asking for miracles,” Schroeder replied. “You can’t tell whether God’s tweaking the system or that’s just the way it turned out.

“It’s hard to see sometimes whether prayer is answered or not ... Prayer is not enough. It’s an essential (to practice prayer) to mobilize and then to act.

“Communal work is good, but if you take anything, including an idealogy to an extreme, then you’ve got a problem.

“God can get along without our prayers, but he can’t get along without love among each of us. We are all the light of creation. When you look in the mirror in the morning, you’re the light of creation,” Schroeder said.