quarks, the strong force, and freedom

Renée Antrosio – May 28, 2024 1 Comment

Physics, mathematics, and astronomy. Not my usual subjects, and not how I would expect someone to find God. Michael Guillen arrived at Christianity by another approach, through science. In Believing is Seeing, he shares his discovery (while teaching physics at Harvard) that the Bible matched his scientific worldview better than his Atheism, and how he came to trust/believe in Jesus.

This was a very different kind of testimony than I grew up hearing. Learning that galaxies in deep space are arrayed in an elegant three-dimensional pattern and that 95 percent of the “observable” universe is invisible to us, prompted Guillen’s question:

How did this amazing, mostly invisible universe of ours come to be so amazing and mostly invisible? 

He studied various religions and found them to be fascinating and logical, but nothing resonated better with his love and knowledge of science better than his Atheism. Then he found that the New Testament seemed to defy logic, reminding him of quantum physics: that something can exist and not exist at the same time, that something can be nothing and everything at the same time. (p.24-25)

Guillen describes truths that are beyond logical- profound truths- as translogical, versus what he calls “trivial truths.” Conventional thinking leads us to truths that are logical and commonplace, whose key feature is that the opposite of a trivial truth is always false. Profound truths, on the other hand, don’t make obvious sense, and the opposite of a profound truth is also true. His example:

THE QUANTUM VACUUM IS NOTHINGNESS. Where apparently the opposite, by definition, is also true. THE QUANTUM VACUUM IS NOT NOTHINGNESS. (p. 26)

Therefore, this physicist recognized the possibility that the New Testament contained profound truths, things that for him were translogical. That was just the beginning of his journey towards belief. He continued investigating, asking questions of science and Christianity and Atheism:

Does absolute truth exist? Are there truths that cannot be proven? Is the universe designed for life? Are humans unique? Is light special? (p. 29-41)

After some twenty years of studying science and exploring the world’s religions, he decided that the Christian worldview best answered his questions and squared with his scientific worldview, so that he came to believe in God. This was the conclusion of Part 1 “My Journey” of Believing is Seeing. 

Part 2, the bulk of the book, is about Faith, with a separate chapter for each of Having Faith in…Faith, the Scientific Method, Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, and God. Each was interesting, and I enjoyed learning a little about science and math that was way beyond my high school physics and college calculus, in an easily readable way. 

His comparisons of quantum physics to faith were particularly fascinating, especially his analogy of quarks in atomic nuclei to our freedom in God. 

According to quantum chromodynamics, quarks stay within atomic nuclei because that’s where they’re most free. A quark is perfectly free only when there is zero distance between it and the source of the strong force. We call this extraordinary phenomenon asymptotic freedom….

So a quark is freest when it sticks close to the nucleus and least free when it’s farthest from the nucleus. In other words, the presence of the strong force is liberating, not enslaving.

According to Christianity, the identical thing is true about God- we experience real freedom, perfect freedom, only when we draw near to God. (p.194-195)

What a different way of thinking about our freedom as we move closer to God through choosing to follow Jesus and participate more and more fully in the family of God! Delightful! 

This week I will be digging deeper into those profound truths of the good news in Jesus. Truths whose opposites are also true, beyond logic. Contemplating atonement and the meanings of the cross. I look forward to sharing and discussing these mysteries of faith as we journey together. 

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor 13:12-13 (NKJV)

-Renée Antrosio, NCF Pastor