Would a "Theory of Everything" Make Christianity Obsolete?

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Those of us who enjoy watching The Big Bang Theory on television have heard references to something called String Theory. And people paying attention to physicists like Stephen Hawking have probably heard them mention a Theory of Everything. What in the world are these nerds talking about?

The simplest explanation I've found comes from PBS (pbs.org/faithandreason). PBS says that a Theory of Everything is physicists’ goal to unite all of physical science under one "mathematical umbrella." Ultimately, a Theory of Everything would bring together the quantum theory (subatomic physics) and general relativity (the cosmological structure of the universe). A theory of everything would use mathematics to show how everything is related, from fractions of atoms, to collections of galaxies.

There are four fundamental physical forces in the universe (not including Bieber Fever): gravity (the force that pulls things together), electromagnetic force (magnetism, heat, light, and electricity), weak nuclear force (having to do with atoms and radioactive decay), and strong nuclear force (which holds atoms together). Physicists have mathematical explanations for each of these four forces (but not for Bieber Fever), but they have been struggling to find one overall theory that explains them in relation to each other: a Theory of Everything.

Steven Weinberg, who won a Nobel Prize for unifying electromagnetic and weak nuclear forces (nerd), says that a Theory of Everything would be a "final theory," because, if one is ever found, physics will have accomplished its goal: The physical universe would be explained in mathematical terms.

String Theory

According to the National Autonomous University of Mexico (or, as you may know it, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), the Standard Model explains the behavior of matter well, except for gravity, which is very difficult to describe at the microscopic level. Recently, String Theory has become popular as a possible quantum theory of gravity. And, on top of that, it is also being proposed as a Theory of Everything.

The university's website puts it like this:

"The essential idea behind string theory is this: all of the different 'fundamental' particles of the Standard Model are really just different manifestations of one basic object: a string. How can that be? Well, we would ordinarily picture an electron, for instance, as a point with no internal structure. A point cannot do anything but move. But, if string theory is correct, then under an extremely powerful 'microscope' we would realize that the electron is not really a point, but a tiny loop of string. A string can do something aside from moving- it can oscillate in different ways. If it oscillates a certain way, then from a distance, unable to tell it is really a string, we see an electron. But if it oscillates some other way, well, then we call it a photon, or a quark, or a… you get the idea. So, if string theory is correct, the entire world is made of strings!"

The university goes on to explain that while String Theory elegantly describes the properties of tiny particles, it does not yet have experimental evidence to back it up. The theory, when presented as a Theory of Everything, is often called Superstring Theory or M-Theory (not be confused with Silly String Theory, which is a course of study at Clown University).

Is this a threat to Christianity?

Dr. Stephen M. Barr, a physicist and Christian, doesn’t have a problem with Superstring Theory, and he has said that there are "good reasons to suspect" that it is true, even though it is not (currently) testable. But He does not agree with those who say that such a theory would put God out of a job. That's because, Barr says, any Theory of Everything is really only a Theory of Everything Physical, and the assumption that physical things are all that exist is a philosophical issue, not a scientific one. Superstring Theory, or any Theory of Everything, is only a threat to a “God of the Gaps,” where God is just an explanation for mysterious things. Most Christians would not describe their God that way, and so should not feel threatened by Superstring Theory. (Everyone should feel threatened by Silly String Theory.)

If God wants to make the universe out of tiny vibrating strings, that's His right. And if He wants to make it out of invisibly small paperclips or mangos or bicycles, He can certainly do that too. While some Christians might have preferred that particles be made of tiny crosses or Bibles, He hasn't seen fit, it seems, to insert Himself that explicitly into creation. So, we should trust the physicists and mathematicians about what is (or might be) in that tiny invisible world.

When Atheist physicists make the claim that a mathematical model of the physical universe is evidence against God, they show how poorly they understand the concept of God. They think of God as some kind of necessary physical force within the created order, an answer to the "how" questions of the universe. But God is not a part of creation. Though He’s present everywhere, He is outside of creation because He is made of different stuff. He is, in an ultimate sense, the "how" of existence, but He is perhaps better understood as the "why." He is the source of all things, physical and invisible. Though He has become a character in the story as the God-man Jesus, ultimately, He is the author.

What about miracles?

There is another way physicists might mean that a Theory of Everything disproves God. Some believe that if things can be explained mathematically, there is no need or opportunity for supernatural intervention of any kind; it's a closed system, and the equations in a Theory of Everything are solved for all unknowns. The exclusion of miracles would certainly rule out Christianity, which depends on the miracles of the virgin birth and resurrection of Jesus to have any meaning.

What these physicists fail to understand is that however intelligent we are, God will always be smarter. He can weave a miracle into the fabric of His creation, because He is the creator of the universe and of any mathematics that help explain it. He can adjust for any possible variable when He wants to interact with the world He made, because to Him, the most perplexing equations in the world are as easy as 1 + 1. (The answer is 2 – not a trick question.)

If, for Jesus to walk on water, He had to change a million tiny attributes of the atoms and substance of that water (or the bottoms of His feet), He could do that with ease. If, to heal a blind man, He had to adjust the workings of a million cells in the man's eyes and brain, that would not be difficult for Him. (Even if Jesus the God-man was not consciously aware of the math and science involved, the Heavenly Father who empowered Him is.) God is the Ultimate Mathematician, and He can adjust whatever He needs to in the great equations of reality in order to bring about His will. To imagine that the complexity of the system prevents Him from acting is to seriously underestimate the one who created the universe from nothing.

A mathematical model of the universe could be seen as evidence of an orderly, rational, and creative God, who wrote some of His attributes into the things He has made. Or it can be just a really cool math problem in a universe without ultimate meaning. It all depends on your perspective. God is far above the physical creation in all aspects (though He does care for it very much). Theory of Everything cannot make Christianity obsolete.