It’s an interesting time in science. Craziness, people.
It turns out Einstein truly was the smartest man alive (or at least the plethora of scientists who relate all their findings to his theories convince me he was). There’s talk of fundamental forces of physics (gravity, electromagnetism, weak interactions, strong interactions), and how every action we can observe falls into one of these categories. Gravity is the curvature of spacetime around an object of mass (gravity is actually the weakest link in the fundamental forces… physicists postulate the existence of a “graviton”, which would be the catalyst/agent for all gravitational interactions – it’s yet to be proven or discovered, though its existence is likely). Electromagnetism is the interaction of particles with an electrical charge (whether it be at rest – electrostatic – or in motion – electric and magnetic). Weak interaction is a powerful interaction at the nuclear level (nucleus of an atom). Strong interaction… this is where things become epic in proportion.
Strong interactions are to blame for some of the fundamental elements of quantum physics – gluons. Gluons form subatomic particles like “quarks” that are in some way responsible for holding the nucleus of an atom together. Its a force that can hardly be defined. Quarks, by the way, are subatomic particles that are – like every other subatomic particle – unpredictable and counter intuitive. A quark can exist in two places at the same time. Better said, it can move from one point to another (no matter how far) without actually traveling the distance in between. Perhaps you’ve heard of the “butterfly effect”. This is the name assigned to an anomaly associated with quarks. Apparently, you can split a quark in half, put one half in New York and the other in Los Angeles, change the rotation of one half… and the other half will simultaneously change rotation, as well. Go figure.
Moving on… this is an excerpt from About.com: Physics (http://physics.about.com/od/physics101thebasics/f/fund_forces.htm): ”Many physicists believe that all four of the fundamental forces are, in fact, the manifestations of a single underlying (or unified) force which has yet to be discovered.”
You have to forgive me, but come on. ”Unified force”? Gluons that “hold everything together”? Does this sound biblical to anyone else? Let’s keep going, though. Here’s another excerpt, from About.com: Physics (http://physics.about.com/od/quantumphysics/f/stringtheory.htm): “As with much of quantum physics, the mathematics that applies to string theory cannot be uniquely solved. Physicists must apply perturbation theory to obtain a series of approximated solutions. Such solutions, of course, include assumptions which may or may not be true. The driving hope behind this work is that it will result in a “theory of everything,” including a solution to the problem of quantum gravity, to reconcile quantum physics with general relativity, thus reconciling the fundamental forces of physics.”
I may be losing some of you by this point, so let’s just get to brass tacks here. String Theory is a field of scientific research that postulates even smaller pieces of matter that make up atoms/subatomic particles. They say these little pieces of matter (if they can even be called “matter”) are like tiny vibrating “strings”, and they are to an atom as an orange is to the earth… teeny tiny. As if that’s not weird enough, they’re also saying they can prove the existence of at least 11 dimensions including the one we live in and observe, and they’re all somehow created/governed by these tiny vibrating strings. They even say a quark can bleed back and forth from dimension to dimension. Weird.
Back to the article – did it just say “Theory of Everything”? I beg your pardon, but let’s for a moment – just for the sake of argument – call God a “theory”. I love science, philosophy, and theology. All of them teach me something about God, the God I believe to be “everything”… not just a theory of everything, but a reality. A problem, however, will always arise from the atheistic world when you and I say this is what we believe. They will say that until you can present empirical proof of your theory, it remains no more viable than any other theory, and you’re silly to stake all of your beliefs upon it.
The problem I have, however, enters when one refutes and delegitimizes the “theory” of Intelligent Design we present to the world without doing the same to String Theory. The “God Theory” is most definitely a unifying theory! (Again, I’m calling God a “theory” only for the sake of argument… I believe He is ultimate reality). God brings all of it together into one neat, intellectually satisfying whole. There is no “theory” more unifying than intelligent design, so why delegitimize it?
This site I referred to twice already – it even stated that string theory, lacking the evidence it does, still inspires the hearts and minds of scientists, since it would indeed unify many theories!
It would be tragic for one to expel Intelligent Design as a possibility if one does not do the same to string theory. This is a double standard, one that cannot be justified. If quantum physics has genuinely led us to believe that there is nothing more basic to existence than light and energy, and that these elements hold all of existence together, and we’ve got a Bible in our hands in which God constantly refers to himself as light, and a Jesus who is called “the firstborn of creation, in whom all things consist” (all of which were written 1000+ years before the age of modern science, mind you), what makes our “theory” any less viable than the others?
Couple this with the destination of the question, “and before that, what?”, and you’ve got a strong case for your beliefs. One that unifies all the others, that satisfies the intellect, and gives us even more peace and resolve to keep on studying, discovering, and teaching. This is why, my friends, your belief is not on shaky ground. It presupposes everything else, is nothing short of ultimate reality, and will never be “proven” otherwise.
This is the most beautiful part: believing in God doesn’t polarize us into “atheists” and “other” – it unifies us just as it does our theories, making us all nothing more than brothers and sisters, all equally loved by God. He is not “dead”, as we were told years ago due to scientific discoveries, contemporary of their time. He is alive, and pulsing with all the energy, productivity, creativity, and goodness that He was before time began. Hallelujah. I can promise you no discovery will ever do a thing to tarnish his magnificent reputation.
Just look into the night sky.
-jc
