There has never been a time where biblical discernment is needed more when studying new findings in science. One of those subjects is the world of Quantum Physics, which is truly astounding, yet does not offer any mystical or spiritual benefits, nor does it connect or unify a person with the universe. Both Classical and Quantum physics show that everything is connected by many things, such as gravity, to some degree. All particles interact, but that does not mean that a human being can change reality, or the world, by merely thinking about it because they still must do something physically if they want to actually change it.
The study of Quantum Physics, or the natural world alone, cannot prove the existence of God. There is nothing that a human being needs to understand God than what is already revealed in the Bible and shown in His creation because "the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands" (Psalm 19:1 NIV). Everything outside of it, including Quantum Physics, is not reliable.
The study of Quantum Physics can complement a person's belief in God, but it will not necessarily lead to belief in God. That requires faith. It is by grace through faith that a person comes into an eternal relationship with their Maker (Eph 2:8).
Quantum Physics helps explain how the universe works, but it is not the final authority for the Born-Again Christian. The Bible teaches that God designed and created the Cosmos even though that truth has yet to be proven irrefutably through science. God wants human beings to live by faith and not by their sensory experiences. He is not a cosmic quantum force that permeates everything. He is the Creator of the Cosmos who is separate from His creation (Rom 1:25; Isa 42:8; 46:9). No human being has seen how God created the heavens or the Earth.
"Where were you when I laid the Earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone - while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?" (Job 38:4-7 NIV)
Quantum Physics has not opened the doors to bring into the church the mystical teachings of other religions that were stolen or cleverly repackaged by the enemy and now need to be taken back because they already belong to citizens of the Kingdom of God. There is absolutely nothing to be found in mystical religions that have any eternal value within them. A fountain does not "send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water" (James 3:11 NIV). This misguided belief has opened the doors to pseudoscientific nonsense infiltrating the walls of the church. The Bible warns the reader to avoid them at all cost (See Gen 12:1; 2 Cor 6:14-18; Rom 16:17; Gal 1:8; 2 Tim 3:5; 2 John 10). Someone once said that mysticism begins with a mist and ends in schism.
"But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit." (Jude 17-19 NIV – see also 2 Peter 1:16-19)
While Jesus walked the Earth, He did not exhibit properties similar to those of quantum wave-particle duality. That belief would be considered 'modalism' which is a heretical teaching that understands the Holy Trinity as being just one person with three different aspects or masks and not as one-person-yet three simultaneously. Jesus is both 100% divine and 100% human at the same time. He is not the actual "God particle" because He is fully God and always has been.
Throughout the universe, Jesus Christ is not the pantheistic presence who learned to manipulate the system as an ascended master. He came from a reality separate from that of human beings. He said to the religious sign seekers of His day, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am [the one I claim to be], you will indeed die in your sins" (John 8:23-24 NIV).
Every Christian needs to remain focused on Jesus who alone is worthy to be worshipped and adored for all eternity. The spiritualization of science can be seductive. The Bible warns the reader about the dangers of trying to synchronize the physical elements of the Cosmos with spirituality causing their faith to be taken captive "after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Col 2:8 KJV). The word "rudiments" in Greek is "stoicheia" and includes both the "physical particles" constituting the Cosmos and the "spiritual powers" inhabiting it (See 2 Peter 3:10; Gal 4:3-4; Eph 6:12-13).
The energy found in the universe is not simply light or sound frequencies or vibrations. Every Born-Again Christian can tap into and harness the Quantum Love of God because it is Jesus who energizes everything. His love permeates the universe and is best displayed by those who love Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength (See Matt 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27).
Historical Faith Vs Mystical Spirituality
In the New Testament, the word "mystery" refers to the truth revealed, while the modern English word denotes truth concealed. There is no mystical correlation between science and spirituality. The study of Quantum Physics is not taking back truths from mystical religions that belong to citizens of the Kingdom of God.
Christianity is a historical faith based upon historical events and teaching. The Bible implores Born-Again Christians to not chase after "different Gospels" to study the past so that their faith does not get damaged in the future. Experience is not superior to the knowledge of the Word of God. Human senses cannot be trusted. Christians are commanded to "contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints" (Jude 3 NIV).
Human beings cannot synchronize their souls with Quantum powers to unravel the mysteries of the universe that God has kept hidden. What remains an unrevealed mystery is how sinful human beings can be brought into complete eternal union with a holy Creator God by grace through faith, and then be found in Christ, and He in them, through the filling of the Holy Spirit (See Rom 8:10-11, 16:3, 7-13; Gal 2:20, 5:22-25; Eph 5:18-6:9).
The Bible teaches that Christians must not integrate into the teachings and behaviors of this world, but instead, be entirely separated from alternative occult or mystical or heretical teachings (See 2 Cor 6:14-18; Rom 16:17; Gal 1:8; 2 Tim 3:5; 2 John 10). God forbids Born-Again Christians to have any interaction with a mystical or occult religion (Deut 18:9-15). Contact with spiritual entities of the occult or other religions, whether intentional or accidental, infects the whole of spirituality.
There are no hidden or unknowable dark sayings or secret and mysterious parables or hidden truths in the Bible that need to be deciphered or unlocked. The Bible is the only source needed for the words of life. Christians do not need any new revelations or supernatural encounters because the Bible is the written Word of God and must stand alone (See 2 Cor 12:1). Any "revelation" outside of the written Word that contradicts, adds, or takes away from what is revealed in the Bible, is a counterfeit.
Jesus condemned the religious teachers of Israel as being "hypocrites' because they honored God "with their lips, but their heart" was "far from" Him. They worshiped God in vain and taught the "commandments of men' as the doctrines of God. They left "the commandment of God" and held onto "the tradition of men," which made "void the word of God" (Mark 7:6-8,13 ESV).
God's Word warns teachers not to twist and "distort" what is written within it and give it meanings that are not there, or to "add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar" (Prov 30:5-6 NIV), which will lead to "their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:16 NIV). When a claim is made that God has spoken outside of His written Word and given a direct, personal revelation that does not align with what the Bible says, it must be subject to rigorous questioning and held in contempt as heresy.
New revelations that are outside of the written Word of God are unnecessary at the very least because the Bible is sufficient to provide all that is needed for any human being to know God. It does not need to be supplemented EVER!
"Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar." (Prov 30:5-6 NIV)
God instructed the Prophet Jeremiah to separate his message from all man-originated spirituality and religions and then used him to condemn false prophets who spoke visions from their imaginations and seers who wanted to accommodate the faith of Israel with occult spirituality (Jer 15:15-21, 23:9-32).
Belief is a choice. People choose what they believe and believe what they have chosen. Christians are to "walk by faith (trust) and not by sight (senses)" (2 Cor 5:7 NIV). The five senses of hearing, touch, taste, feel and sight, are not reliable – only the written Word of God is. Human beings tend to incur confirmation bias, so they are most often motivated by the lifelong impressions of emotions and wishful thinking, making decisions and judgments based upon the influence of personal experience, desires, beliefs, education, prejudices, theories, and hunches rather than logic and rational common sense. Information that does not align with a person's "beliefs" and "experiences" is often rejected, ignored, reinterpreted, or rationalized away, even when confronted with empirical evidence.
The Bible is filled with the wisdom and knowledge of God and remains as the only and the absolute authority for all things related to the mind of God and His handiwork. It is the ONLY reliable source for human beings to learn about their Creator and hear His voice clearly. God has given three conditions to know Him intimately;
"..if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and
…if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and
…if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." (Prov 2:1-6 NIV)
Biblical Discernment
Charles Spurgeon has been quoted as saying that "True discernment is the ability to distinguish between right - and almost right - truth from error, and orthodoxy from heresy."
The spiritual gift of Discerning of Spirits is not broadly defined in the Bible (1 Cor 12:10). It is the supernatural ability given by the Holy Spirit to perceive the source of a spiritual manifestation or teaching and determine whether it is of God, the enemy, or of man (Acts 8:18-23, 10:30-35, 16:16-18).
Christians "wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world" (Eph 6:12 NIV). This manifestation gift is important in daily spiritual warfare because it is a defensive gift. It can help by revealing the deceit and lies of "wolves in sheep's clothing" as well as delivering those who are being afflicted, oppressed, tormented by, or exposed to lying or seducing spirits, whether they be of the enemy or man.
Every Christian is commanded to "not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God" (1 John 4:1 NIV). However, this gift is used to expose the lies of the enemy in the behavior and teaching of men by separating truth from error. It is used most effectively by those who diligently study the Word of God so that they can warn others of counterfeit teaching or manifestations.
Discernment does not have many usages in the Bible that apply to thoughts, feelings, people, or actions. The only way to define "biblical" discernment is to understand the meaning of the various words translated as discern, discerning, discerner, discernment when they are used in a specific verse within the context of the subject being addressed before they can be used to justify a personal supposition or confirmation bias.
If a person is going to quote the Bible, they need to use verses and words within their contextual usage by looking at the verses before and after the verse quoted. The words must be seen in the totality of the entire usage in the Bible and throughout history to understand their meaning before it was translated fully. A word cannot be arbitrarily given a meaning that is not in the text or used elsewhere in Scripture.
As previously stated, the Bible is the most reliable source to study the Bible and is very clear about what it says. It is all about the Author and not the reader. It does not need to be discerned - just studied in context. Taking a different meaning from what is spoken in the Word to support a personal supposition is eisegesis, not exegesis.
Biblical discernment is NOT some mystical psychic feeling, cosmic disturbance, or a burst of wisdom that gives the Born-Again Christian the ability to look into someone's heart to discern their flaws or their struggles to help them make a decision. It has everything to do with upholding God's written Word – the Bible and having the ability to compare someone's beliefs and teachings to it. That is the only sure way to 'peer' into someone's heart.
