Quantum Mechanics and Salvation

Quantum Mechanics is the first self-consistent dualism ever developed.  Many theologies have a hidden duality in their underpinning. The quantum mechanics duality can legitimize these other dualities. – Stanley Klein

One of the most successful scientific theories of the twentieth century is quantum mechanics.  This theory describes physics on very small scales, like the size of atoms or even smaller.  The normal physics we use to describe everyday events that we see around us, called Newtonian physics or macroscopic physics, does not work on such small scales as atoms, electrons, and quarks.  Interestingly, quantum mechanics also helps us understand certain features of how God can interact in our world without violating the physical principles God put into place at creation, as well as the Christian notion of salvation of the soul.

Quantum particles exhibit characteristics of both waves and particles.  This unusual result can be shown using a classic double-slit experiment (see figure below).  Elementary particles fired at a single slit in a barrier which then pass through another barrier with two slits will exhibit an interference pattern characteristic of waves.  The same interference pattern can be seen using water waves.  In the world of quantum entities, particles and waves behave the same.  In other words, quantum “things” behave as both waves and particles at the same time! 

Another important characteristic of quantum mechanics is related to measurement of quantum particles.  In Newtonian mechanics, the position and velocity of any object can be measured to a high degree of accuracy and the object’s future behavior can be easily predicted in most systems.  However, in the quantum world, these same quantities must be estimated as a range of probabilities according to the so-called Schrödinger Wave equation (see below).  

There are two dynamics in the Schrödinger Equation.  First, the quantum system remains in a classically deterministic state as long as no measurement is made.  The second dynamic is the collapse of the wave function upon measurement in which the change in system state is “instantaneous, non-linear and apparently stochastic” (per Roger Paul). Until a measurement is made, the particle exists in a state of superposition in which all possible states of being exist simultaneously.  In the double-slit experiment above, the particle fired at the barrier exists in a state of superposition in which it passes through both slits at the same time.  Only upon hitting the observation screen can the final position of the particle be known, thereby “collapsing the wave equation.”  The wave function defines the set of possible states of being while the act of measurement or observation selects one possibility and makes it reality. This complex equation describes the probability of finding the particles within the wave pattern.   

In a further illustration of quantum duality, Erwin Schrödinger did an interesting thought experiment in which a hypothetical cat was placed within an opaque box with a radioactive atom.  The atom had a 50% chance of decaying.  If the atom decayed during the test period it would trigger a hammer to break a glass container containing poisonous gas.  If the atom decayed and the gas was released, the cat would die.  If the atom did not decay then the gas would not be released and the cat would live (see figure below).  Until the cat was observed, it existed inside the opaque box in a state of superposition, both dead and alive.  When the cat was observed, the wave function of possible states of being collapsed to one state of being,either alive or dead.  This concept is critical for understanding the theological application of quantum mechanics. 

Is the cat alive or dead?

So what does all this have to do with salvation?  One potential application of the superposition of quantum states to theology lies in the discussion of God’s election of individuals for salvation.  The two major schools of thought on God’s salvific election are the Calvinistic and Arminian schools.  Other philosophies exist, but they are mainly on a continuum between the Calvinistic and Arminian philosophies. 

As summarized by the Synod of Dort, John Calvin believed that certain Christian believers were predestined from eternity past to be among the elect, or those who would be saved into eternal life in heaven.  In his Institutes, Calvin emphasized that the selection of the elect was in no way based on any human action or intent, but solely on God’s own righteous judgment.  God did not employ any foreknowledge God might have in the selection of the elect, but arbitrarily determined those who would be saved or damned.  God chose, according to God’s own divine reason, to proactively constrain God’s ability to know the future and who would choose to accept the offer of salvation through Christ.  Jacobus Arminius also believed in God’s election of certain believers, but where Calvin did not believe that God used foreknowledge to choose the elect, Arminius believed that God used divine foreknowledge to see which individuals would eventually choose to accept Christ. Those who accepted Christ were made elect. 

The individual human being cannot know this state of election with the same certainty as God.  Under the Calvinistic model, one’s choice to accept Christ has no impact on God’s decision of election.  Therefore, although the individual may have some inkling that God has included them among the elect, there exists some level of uncertainty as to the true state of election.  In the Arminian model, the individual consciously and proactively chooses to accept Christ.  According to Romans 10:13, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  Salvation is a freely given gift from God for those who accept Christ (Rom. 6:23), but what exactly does that mean?  Humanity can know with certainty what God will do under certain circumstances based on the Bible as long as we can interpret correctly what God is saying.  However, to correctly interpret God’s meaning assumes accurate manuscripts or copies of manuscripts, accurate translations, and most importantly, an accurate understanding of God’s intention and meaning.  Elsewhere in the Bible Jesus described how to obtain eternal life using a variety of images and parables.  Yet under either election model the individual human cannot have one hundred percent certainty of salvation.  Since God’s ways are not the human way and God’s thoughts are higher than human thoughts, no human can be absolutely sure of a clear understanding of God’s meaning and intent (Isa. 55:8-9).  Thus, there exists some level of uncertainty as to the individual’s election state under either model. 

If the doctrine of election is correct, then there exists some probability P(X) that any individual is part of God’s elect.  Therefore there also exists some probability P(1-X) that any individual is not part of the elect, and is either damned (under double election) or simply left out of election.  No matter how devout the individual, P(X) can never equal one hundred percent while living.  Thus, the individual exists in states of both election and non-election, in superposition until the moment of death.  The wave function describing the individual’s election status contains the probabilities of both election and non-election, P(X) and P(1-X).  At death, the individual faces God for judgment (Heb. 9:27) and at that moment judgment is pronounced.  All doubt as to the individual’s election status vanishes as the wave function collapses and the only state of being remaining is the one God either decreed (Calvinistic) or foresaw (Arminian).  In terms of the double-slit experiment described above, God is the observation screen against which the final position of human election can be determined, whether elect (saved) or non-elect (damned).  God always knew with P(X) equal to one hundred percent what the individual’s election state was, but the individual can know only when the wave function collapses to a single remaining state.  The duality of states exists in the perception of the individual, not as a limitation of God’s power or knowledge.

No matter how sophisticated our understanding of the universe, one fact remains.  We are forever reliant upon God as our Creator and Sustainer for our salvation.  God alone knows the true state of our election.  God alone nows what the wave function of our salvation will become. 

On our knees let us plead with God, the Architect of salvation, for forgiveness and peace.

Next time:  “In the beginning…”

The Enlightenment: Finding the Infinite Within the Finite

The Enlightenment was a turbulent period of revolution and change.  Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenburg church, unintentionally sparking the Protestant Reformation.  Scientific inquiry began to revise, modify, and overturn the foundation of thought left by the Greeks centuries ago. 

Alister McGrath defined Enlightenment as “the free and constructive use of reason in an attempt to demolish old myths.”  Christianity was the main target of the Enlightenment as the intellectual credentials of religion were challenged.  According to such philosophers as Locke, Toland, Kant, and Tindal, the “omnicompetence” of human reason should suffice to derive the tenants of Christianity if Christianity was in fact a reasonable religion.  There was no need for divine revelation if the proper application of reason were employed.  Christianity, according to Enlightenment philosophers, was simply an example of natural religion and “revelation” was merely a “reaffirmation of moral truths already available to enlightened reason.” 

It was in this atmosphere of placing reason above revelation that Nicholas Copernicus proposed his helio-centric model of the solar system in which the sun does not revolve around the earth, but rather the earth revolves around the sun.  Other work by Galileo, Kepler, and Newton caused certain passages of the Bible to be reinterpreted in light of discoveries related to astronomy, mathematics, and physics.  Theology, or the study of God, was replaced by pure secular rationalism.

And yet, glimpses of the Creator could be found even in the discoveries of the period.  For example, Isaac Newton, one of the greatest scientists of the past 500 years, provided a way for humanity to understand one of the greatest mysteries of Christianity: how could the inifinite God exist within the finite body of Jesus Christ?  Put another way, how could the infinite be contained in the finite?  The debate surrounding the deity of Christ was a major topic in the history of the early church.  Several of the early church councils wrestled with this very question.  Even today, one of the stumbling blocks for new Christians is the concept of an infinite God being incarnated in the human body of Jesus.

One of Newton’s greatest legacies is integral calculus.  Basically, integral calculus allows one to calculate the area contained under a curve.  This is done by drawing a series of narrow rectangles under the curve, figuring out the area covered by each rectangle, and then adding up the areas (see figure).   

Obviously, there will always be a little bit of area left under (or above) the curve as long as the individual rectangles have some width, no matter how small.  Newton’s solution was to imagine the rectangles to collapse to an infinitely small width, effectively zero width.  In that way, there would be an infinite number of infinitely narrow rectangles, perfectly matching the area under the curve.  Newton called this the quadrature of the curve.  Today, we call it the integral of the curve.  Thus, Newton’s discovery clearly illustrated how the infinite could, in fact, exist within the finite.

 

Other examples can be used to illustrate this principle, particularly the strange attractors from chaos theory.  Each of these examples allows us to see something that is truly infinite contained within a finite, measurables, space.  If our limited human minds can discover infinity within the finite, how much easier must it have been for the infinite Creator God to willingly be confined to the finite body of Christ?  Just because humanity has a necessarily limited view of time, space, and inifinity, we need not place that same limitation on Almighty God.

 

To God be the glory.  May our hearts and minds be open to the truths You would have us understand.

 

Next time:  Quantum Mechanics and Salvation

Science and Faith

Christians who hope to be taken seriously by people with an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the cosmos will do well to inform themselves of the relationship between science and faith. – Harry L. Poe

Since the scientific revolution of the Enlightenment period, science and theology have often been viewed as adversaries who were hopelessly incompatible.  The unquestionable success of science’s effort to pierce the mysteries of the natural world furthered the divide, ultimately leading to the current state of affairs in which science has become the solution for issues in the practical world while religion, faith, and theology are reserved for the ephemeral realm.

Science seeks to establish and understand truths about the nature and workings of the natural world, from the macroscopic world of cosmology to the indeterministic nano-world of quantum mechanics.  Theology studies the nature and character of God as revealed through various theophanies, God’s special revelation through God’s human spokespersons in the prophets and apostles, the life and teachings of God incarnate, Jesus Christ, and the general revelation of God through the observation of Creation.  The assumption for over three hundred years has been that these truths are incompatible; that science and theology are truly separated forever in their respective endeavors.

Creation is God’s creativity and love on display for all humanity to observe and appreciate.  Humankind is “without excuse” for God’s glory is manifest throughout creation (Romans 1:20).  Scientific inquiry peels back the layers of humankind’s ignorance to reveal the underlying structure and beauty of the universe.  God’s creation exhibits both elegant simplicity and stunning complexity, much of which humanity is just beginning to understand.  God is an efficient Creator, utilizing a few fundamental forces and elementary particles acting according to God’s established physical laws.  It was only in the twentieth century that science began to turn from the clockwork regularity of Newtonian mechanics to the messy fuzziness of quantum mechanics, complexity, and chaos theory.  No longer was the Christian forced to make a decision between faith and science.  Science has brought humanity face-to-face with God.

Without Excuse Ministries is dedicated to the proposition that all knowledge of God must come from God, both from special revelation (the prophets, theophanies, the Bible) and general revelation (observation of creation).  Our focus will be on various topics related to General Revelation.  You are invited to come with us to explore and marvel at the incredible complexity and beauty of the universe, and how such knowledge can help us grow closer to our Creator.

To God Be the Glory.