Question:

I was so grateful for your sermon yesterday in the Cape Town church. I was wondering how you would assist someone who comes from the quantum physics background to believe the Bible.  In particular my friend adheres to the teachings of Bruce Lipton “The Biology of Belief”?

Answer:

Bruce Lipton is a well-qualified molecular biologist who has left his field of study and accepted New Age/Hindu/Buddhist philosophy. I think that some of what he says reflects clear thinking, but he thinks through a Hindu/pantheist world view which makes his conclusions something to be taken with great caution. I am afraid that the untrained listener will have a really hard time knowing when he is speaking from evidence (he does this often) and when he is extrapolating his philosophy onto the evidence and really just speaking from a faith viewpoint–one which is diametrically different from the Christian world view (he does this often as well). When he says that our mind directs our genetics, I do not think he has much if any evidence for this. It appears that he is arguing by analogy. On the positive side, he freely connects science with spirituality, but on the negative side, he makes rather gross speculation without supporting his speculation with evidence and not cautioning his hearers when he has transitioned into religious speculation.

This, of course, is not your question, but I think it may be helpful to understand where your friend is coming from. For your information, I have a quantum physics background. My PhD is in chemical physics and my research was in the area of quantum physics and spectroscopy. In my opinion, there are a couple of tactics you can use with your friend. These are the ones which worked with me. First, you can request politely that the he/she read the Bible. A person with a Hindu-inspired belief will normally be relatively open-minded to looking at other religious world view. I suggest you get him or her to read the Book of John, Acts and Romans to get started. I then suggest you get him or her to look at the evidence for the resurrection and messianic prophecies as evidence that Jesus is not what Hindus assume–a kind of super-guru. He is the personal God in the flesh. At the risk of a bit of self-promotion, my favorite book to bring out this information (other than the Bible) is my book Reasons for Belief, avaliable at www.ipibooks.com.

Some have said that quantum mechanics is particularly friendly to Buddhism or perhaps to Hinduism. I would say that this is true to an extent. Their world view is fairly easily seen to work with the non-deterministic universe which is exposed by quantum theory. I also believe that quantum mechanics is consistent with Christian theology, but that the deterministic theology of Calvinism can be seen to be a bit challenged by probabilistic quantum theories. This is all rather esoteric and my advice to you is to move things down to a practical level of things which are consistent with evidence. This is a world scientists are comfortable in. The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus and for the inspiration of the Bible, especially through the fulfillment of messianic and other prophecies, is the kind of evidence which worked with me and may well help your friend. You may also want to consider my book on science and the Bible “Is There a God?” at the same publisher.

John Oakes