Do subatomic particles have free will? Freedom, God’s Sovereignty, and Quantum Theory
“God does not play dice.” -Albert Einstein
“We may roll the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall.” -Proverbs 16:33
One question that has caused a stir amongst theologians is the reconciliation between God’s supposed all-encompassing sovereignty, and man’s supposed free will. Free will is a deeply philosophical question, and one that many disciplines of study struggle to understand, with many different schools of thought and interpretation. One such field is the subcategory of physics known as Quantum Mechanics. I was first introduced to quantum physics years ago by my favorite author, Michael Crichton, in his book “Timeline.” Essentially, quantum theory delves into studying the motion and interaction of subatomic particles.
Now- buckle your seatbelts.
Two mathematicians at Princeton have made the discovery that if human beings have even the tiniest amount of “free will,” so then do subatomic particles. Physicist Gerard ‘t Hooft, winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize, says that the findings are legitimate, and highlight the ultimate determined state of the universe- right down to the subatomic level. He comments on their findings, “As a determined determinist, I would say that yes, you bet- an experimenter’s ‘choice’… was fixed from the dawn of time, and so were the properties of the thing he ‘decided’… If you believe in determinism, you have to believe it all the way- no escape possible. Conway and Kochen have shown here in a beautiful way that a half-hearted belief in pseudo-determinism is impossible to sustain.”
‘Determinism’ is the school of interpretation that argues that there are no decisions or free will, but merely eternal effects of eternal causes (starting from the first cause, which the Christian cosmologically argues is God). Another article is reporting that even the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election is already decided, in voter’s subconscious minds. From the article: “The electorate has already made up its collective mind who it will vote for in November. Even many of those all-important and highly coveted undecided voters aren’t really undecided. They may think they are carefully weighing their choices, but their decision is rigged in advance by their subconscious minds, say psychologists, and they just aren’t aware of it.”
While the second article comes from the discipline of psychology, it is corroborative of the quantum theory. Similarly, this dovetails straight into theology.
Some ponderings on God: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.“
Even the spin of subatomic particles are held together and directed by the Creator’s hand.
-ACR
Hmm, You pose some interesting thoughts that are challenging aside from the scriptural teaching on free will and the sovereignty of God. I think that this issue is very important and opinions very greatly. However, I do not feel that the scripture makes clear the answer to that question regardless of how the natural world SEEMS to operate.
However, I am confident that the scripture you mentioned speaks of the supremacy of Christ. It has implications on the natural world but one of those implication’s doesn’t have to be control the scripture isn’t clear here on that issue. All things can and do hold together in Christ. A deeper look and understanding of the scientists conclusions is in order to really support their finds as evidence. Furthermore, the scientific world tends to have an atheistic, humanist slant. Therefore, an even more critical eye of expertise is required. Unfortunately, even if it is acceptable and sound it is a mere foot note before the Bible itself. Which as I have said above seems unclear on the debate.
Ultimately, you may walk in a different revelation of Jesus Christ. I am confident that upon Jesus’ glorious return I shall see how He reconciles the two.
The findings were initially published four years ago and have been corroborated ever since, most notably by the Nobel Prize winner.
Scripture is perhaps more clear on the debate than you may realize. For centuries, men such as Martin Luther and Jonathan Edwards have retaliated against the humanistic notion of a ‘free will.’
I find it especially curious that the atheistic naturalists are willing to give up the concept of ‘free will’ (even though it is in their best interest not to), but yet Christians fight so vehemently for it. Theologians have conveyed for centuries that the will is a slave to sin, but people are unwilling to say that God is God, and we are not.
As Luther said, the concept of ‘free will’ is an absolute idol, that needs to be smashed.
“So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy” Rom 9:16. Emphasis on the “human will” part.
-ACR
I think the very first mistake in this article is the assumption that the common scientific understanding of consciousness stands. To science, the brain is simply a series of chemical reactions, and consciousness a consequence of these. However, as a Christian, I believe that man is created in God’s image (gen 1:26), and that God is spirit (jn 4:24), and as such we reflect God’s likeness in a spiritual sense perhaps instead of a physical one. The soul plays a large role in our consciousness and in the intricacies of the human psyche; God is spirit, as already established, and clearly makes decisions (I’m not going to both with any references here!), and I would therefore argue that (without wanting to sound Hellenistic at all!) the soul plays a big role in decision making, (and creative thought and reason), which free will is dependent upon. I think that free will is important when we compare man and YHWH; our choices are clearly often seperate to His. If free will did not exist, then verses such as the following are rendered senseless: Gen 1:26 says ‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”‘
Man here is given ‘dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth’. Dominion is defined as: ‘1. the power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority. 2. rule; control; domination.’ I.E the subjection of one’s will onto another, in this case of man’s to the living parts of the earth. Here I think scripture points to man having a God-given autonomy to rule over life by subjecting it to his decisions. However, I also keenly believe that YHWH is absolutely sovereign. He is clearly the origin of this authority in this instance, and throughout scripture can be seen orchestrating the affairs of the world. (N.B Some might say that man sacrificed His free-will/authority in the fall but I do not wish to consider this here). Truly Christ is wholly supreme, but I believe that I operate freely but also in subjection to His will on two levels; on the micro-level, I may be obedient in a more short-term sense, and on a macro-level, I am subject to His awesomeness and attributes as author, sustainer, creator, saviour, and omnipotent ruler. YHWH is in control and fully sovereign.
It may sound like I have just fully contradicted myself, (1Ti 6:20-1 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and CONTRADICITONS of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you. (Emphasis my own) !!!), but in actual fact, I am trying to say that these things are NOT necessarily mutually exclusive. There is an important tension and dynamic here between the two poles and I think that this tension gives rise to a healthy and balanced perspective of free-will/sovereignty, much as the economics of the Trinity are based upon tensions apparently contradictory. There is a glory reflected in this; that God is so other that He will break our human moulds. (sorry for the length!)
The argument about free will is therefore concerned with the extent to which our ability to enact our decisions lies perhaps.
A thought!
“To science, the brain is simply a series of chemical reactions, and consciousness a consequence of these”
While this is true, that is not the foundational premise of (A) this article, or (B) determinist philosophers or physicists. They simply argue for “cause and effect,” rather than “how” decisions are made. They aren’t concerned with *how* the decision is made, only to say that the decision is already predetermined, by previous variables influencing the person; regardless of how that decision is made (brain chemicals, soul, psyche, etc.).
“If free will did not exist, then verses such as the following are rendered senseless: Gen 1:26 says ‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
Scriptural exegete Gordon Wenham proposes that we have applied this passage incorrectly, and read our own interpretations *into* the text, as opposed to what it really says. Wenham explains that the passages that follow this passage shed more light on it, and that more appropriately, the imago dei (image of God) is reflected in mankind’s stewardship-lordship over creation, rather than any sense of necessarily inherent God-like-ness in one attribute or another (freedom of will, etc.).
You did mention the lordship over creation. However, the question of “free will” does not propose lordship over creation, but rather lordship over our own destiny.
Do we really have control over our own destiny?
“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” Rom 8:7
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Rom 3:10-12
“For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then, it depends not on *HUMAN WILL* or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” Rom 9:15-16
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor 2:14
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jer 17:9
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Eph 2:1-3
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What these physicists are saying is that we, and our decisions, are a complex matrix of cause-and-effect. If you were raised in circumstance “A,” then your decision 30 years down the road will be “A,” because that’s how you were raised. Etc.
-ACR