Context: Newton personally believed in the concept of absolute space since it reinforced the idea of an absolute God, but the entire premise was proven false by what we know as ‘relativity of motion’ which makes use of Newton’s laws of motion.
Excerpts from ‘A Brief History of Time’ by Stephen Hawking:
“… Aristotle believed in a preferred state of rest, which any body would take up if it were not driven by some force or impulse. In particular, he thought that the earth was at rest. But it follows from Newton’s laws that there is no unique standard of rest.”
“Newton was very worried by this lack of absolute position, or absolute space, as it was called, because it did not accord with his idea of an absolute God. In fact, he refused to accept lack of absolute space, even though it was implied by his laws.”
I’m all for Newton’s conclusion that God can’t be real, but man that just seems like a really weird reason.
Couldn’t God push two things in opposite directions for the first motion? like throwing two balls together from each hand so they collide in the middle. That would result in zero net-god-motion. Or, since he’s god, maybe he’s above the laws of the universe. That might literally be true - there’s no reason to believe laws of motion should hold outside of this universe… whatever that ends up meaning.