A few days ago on this forum we discussed an unintentionally funny OP full of quantum woo, quantum misunderstanding and something about limbs regrowing. Some of us tried really hard to make sense of it and I believe this OP tried to get across two ideas:
- Some weird things go on at the quantum level which we don’t fully comprehend yet, therefore God.
- The way quantum physics explains fundamental reality is similar to what the Bible says about the spiritual realm, faith, and its effects, therefore God.
The first idea is just standard God of the Gaps and not worthy of further consideration. The second idea is rather intriguing: Has quantum physics really discovered the invisible realm in which God operates through faith? Did the Bible really already tell us about the quantum world millennia before science discovered it?
Quantum Apologetics
When doing a cursory internet search I found several books on this subject which make claims such as:
For example, it is a scientific fact that reality has not yet been determined at the quantum level of existence (matter smaller than atoms). I believe is possible (sic) for scientifically targeted prayer (Quantum Prayer) to modify reality as it is literaly (sic) being constructed at the quantum level, and set us on a path to heal the world.
From Quantum Jesus by Christian Victor
In order to be able to explain the world we live in from the perspective of quantum physics, the existence of the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is apparently a necessity. Our analysis uncovers surprising and easy-to-understand congruencies between the results of physics experiments and statements made in the Bible. What’s more: the phenomena of quantum physics are easier to understand with the assistance of Biblical statements than they are without the Bible.
From Jesus Christ – Quantum Physicist by Dirk Schneider
This book shows that many of the lessons from Jesus were based on knowledge that quantum physics today discovers. Science already knows that there is another realm here beside us, with which our physical plane interacts and has an invisible energy matrix. This means that the spiritual plane and the spiritual body, as well as their relationship to the physical plane, are one step away from discovery.
From O Jesus Quântico by Marco Telzeli
Quantum physics in the Bible
From what I could find, these are the most popular Bible verses used in Quantum Apologetics:
Whatever exists is far off and most profound—who can discover it?”
Ecclesiastes 7:24
Here King Solomon (or whoever really wrote Ecclesiastes around 400 BCE) clearly alludes to a more fundamental or profound reality that will be very hard to discover and even harder to understand. This of course is the subatomic quantum realm. Or is it?
Then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.
Ecclesiastes 8:17
In this verse the author makes it even clearer: Not even the wisest of men will be able to fully comprehend the fundamental quantum reality underneath the classical world we experience in our daily lives. This verse clearly foretells the current situation in quantum physics. Or does it?
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
This verse is peak quantum Bible. Faith, a form of observation, manifests the Divine hidden in the quantum realm into the classical world which we can perceive with our senses. Or does it?
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7
This verse clearly alludes to the recent scientific insight that the familiar world of classical physics is emergent, and not fundamental. “By sight” we only experience the classical world, “by faith” we can tap into the quantum world and experience God. Or can we?
God as a quantum phenomenon
If, against all odds, the above is not enough to convince you, there are other clear connections between quantum mechanics and the Christian God. A popular idea is that God’s Hebrew name YHWH is a verb that expresses past, present, and future tenses all at once, i.e. it means “the one who was-is-will be”. Translating this understanding of God’s name into the language of quantum physics, YHWH is “a superposition of all possible states”. The same holds of course for the Trinity: God is an eternal quantum superposition of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Questions
- Do you also see this as a weirdly fascinating new trend in Christian apologetics? Regardless of the quality of the arguments one has to admire the courage in the face of inevitable scorn and the creativity of the people pushing these ideas, don’t you agree?
- What do you think about these books? I mean: “Quantum Jesus” by a guy that calls himself “Christian Victor”. You just cannot make this stuff up.
- Could we have discovered quantum physics centuries ago by studying the Bible, as the verses quoted above indicate? Or are we now entangling ourselves with quantum eisegesis?
- Does God really lurk in the quantum realm as an eternal superposition, using quantum weirdness to perform miracles and answer prayers? Or is God just shorthand for the quantum wave function of the universe even? A wave function that collapses by faith, thus manifesting God for the true believer?
H/T to the unimitable Jude 1 : 22-23 for bringing Quantum Apologetics to our attention.