The Great Sir Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton. He is regarded as one of the the greatest scientists in human history. Newton is credited for discovering gravity. (In truth, Newton questioned the extent of gravity, not its existence.) He said, "Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done." He is known for Newtonian Physics and his three Laws of Motion. In fact, a newton is the amount of force required to accelerate a body with a mass of one kilogram at a rate of one meter per second squared, named after Sir Isaac Newton. He actually spent more time studying religion than science. He is quoted as saying, "I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily." His devotion to science sprung from his view that since God created the universe in a rational and orderly fashion, it could be understood by rational and orderly people. He argued that God could be found in the humble and careful study of the Word and Creation. It's not surprising, then, that Christians like to claim him as one of their own.

In a time when Christianity is under attack by secularists who like to think that any thinking person would reject all that religious nonsense, Sir Isaac Newton is popular among Christians. "He's one of us," we like to think. No one disputes his intelligence or his science or his Christianity. Almost no one, that is. You see, if we dig too deeply into the man's views, we run into problems.

Take, for instance, his eschatology. Newton argued that the world could not possibly end any sooner than 2060. While the Bible says that we can't know the time, and that we are to be ready always, Newton was trying to fend off the "end of the world" folks. Now, if that was it, there would be no big deal. Unfortunately, it gets worse. Prior to Newton, the perception of the Church was that God was intimately involved in the universe. Newton suggested a God who created a universe with reason and physical laws. As such, the universe ran on its own. This was the footing needed for Deism to take hold. (Note: The God that Newton claimed was not deistic. It's just that his reasoning led others to that conclusion. Note, also, that it is a commonly held belief today even among evangelical, Bible-believing Christians, this disconnect between God and His creation.)

It is fairly well documented that Newton rejected the doctrine of the Trinity. He wrote A Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture in which he indicates that the New Testament we have today (or at least in his day) was corrupt and that the doctrine of the Trinity was added. His theology paralleled the Socinians of his day. Socinians held views rooted in rationality only and rejected orthodox teachings on the Trinity and on the divinity of Jesus. Newton, however, understood that the religious climate of his day would label such beliefs as heretical, so he kept them mostly to himself, but he viewed the doctrine of the Trinity as an affront to monotheism, to which he devoutly held.

Newton rejected the idea of actual demons. In fact, it appears that he held to a view known as mortalism, the belief that is today referred to as annihilationism. There is no actual "hell." The judgment of evil people is simply annihilation.

No one is right all of the time -- at least, no human. We all have errors in our views. We have time while we live to correct them. Sir Isaac Newton is past that time. He cannot defend himself or correct himself. I want to be careful not to go too far here. And his contributions were valuable. However, when we pick our "allies" in the arguments with the world, perhaps we ought to be careful not to pick people who just might have been our opponents in discussions of real consequence like the nature of God and the Trinity and the existence of Hell. It's nice to have recognized people on our side, but we don't win with recognized people. Winning is God's job.