Should Christians be worried about recent important advances in quantum gravity and unified field theory?
Question:
I wanted to ask you about quantum gravity. I read an article published recently that said that there has been a major break through in the theory and that they think that they might be close to unifying everything. The article was by Sustainability Times titled “Gravity Isn’t Relative Anymore.” Are they right in that this a major breakthrough and that they are close to figuring everything and should creationists be worried about this or are there problems with this theory the article doesn’t mention?
Answer:
I have no idea why Christians of any sort would be “worried” about the possibility of physicists finding a truly unified field theory. Why would this be a concern? The bottom line is this: God created the universe. It is an awesome and amazing creation, and the more we know about that creation, the more we will know about the God who created it. If Christianity is true (it is!), then any truth about God’s creation can only support Christian belief.
About recent advances, it is a tendency of theoretical physicists to overblow the importance of discoveries for the sake of describing them to the general public. I have not read the article you found, but I am going to guess that it is a discussion of an actual advance–but a theoretical, not an empirical advance. I would be VERY surprised if we are on the verge of a truly unified field theory which will satisfy all physicists, but if we are, that can only be good news for Christians.
So, no, Christians do not need to fear the implications of this discovery, and no, it is not likely nearly as close to finding a truly unified theory than was implied by what this author said.
John Oakes
