Schrödinger's Salvation

You've likely heard of Schrodinger's cat, in which Erwin Schrodinger suggested that a cat in a steel box was both alive and not alive at the same time. In this thought experiment, with the purpose of explaining properties of quantum mechanics, Schrodinger suggested that there is a steel box which contains a cat, along with a Geiger counter, a hammer, and a vial of poison. If the Geiger counter detects radiation, it will cause the hammer to fall, breaking the vial, and thus killing the cat. But from outside the box, one doesn't know whether this has already happened or not. So from the perspective of someone outside the box, the cat is both alive and not alive at the same time, and both statements are true. Only when the observer opens the box do they see the cat in one state or the other.

As I was hiking in Yosemite today, I was thinking that many Adventists are in what I would call a state of Schrodinger's Salvation. They know they have the gift of salvation, yet at the same time, don't know if they do. Let me explain.

A number of years ago, my friend, Elliott, related a story to me. He is a chaplain at Kettering Medical Center. He stood beside the bed of a woman, 90 years old, facing the end of her life. She had been an Adventist Christian all those years. But as she realized her days were ending, she was in tears. "What if I'm not ready? What if I'm not good enough?" She had no assurance that she would be in Heaven.

I had a similar conversation a couple of years ago with a dear friend, an older lady who has also lived her whole life in the Adventist church. We were talking about Jesus' coming. She said, "When we go to Heaven..." Then she paused, and said, "Well, if I go to Heaven..." I said, "What do you mean, 'If?'" She replied, "Well, we can't know for sure."

A similar conversation happened in my Bible classroom last week. One of my freshman students said, "We can't know for sure that we'll be saved."

Do you see it? Schrodinger's Salvation. We know we are saved and don't know we are saved at the same time.

I believe that if you asked any of these individuals if Jesus gave the gift of eternal life, they would absolutely say yes. But when facing it themselves, they're not sure. This is a problem.

The Bible tells us that "the gift of God is eternal life." The apostle John says, "I write these things so that you may know that you have eternal life." Paul tells us to put on the helmet of salvation. The instruction to put it on assumes that we have it. So scripture is clear that the gift of salvation is ours to have, and to know that we have. 

It seems to me that many Adventists have somehow missed this message. They wonder if they're good enough. Have I confessed all my sins? Have I overcome my sins? The answer to these things is no. We aren't good enough. But Jesus is. He lived a perfect life. And scripture says, "He has become our righteousness." His record stands in place of ours if we say Yes to Him. It's not about us being good enough. It's about living in relationship with the one who is very, very good.

Imagine that I give you and your family a Christmas gift - a trip to Hawaii. You pack your suitcases, get in the car, and head to the airport. One of your kids says, "Are you sure we're going to Hawaii?" You answer, "Well, I'm not really sure. We'll go to the airport and see if they let us on the plane." It seems to me that in this case, I'm not very trustworthy. I've given you a gift, but you don't know if you can trust me to come through with that. You'll only be sure if they let you on the plane and it takes off. My trustworthiness as a gift-giver is in question all the way to the airport, as is your Hawaiian vacation.

Isn't this what we do to God? He has promised us salvation. I believe God is the most trustworthy gift-giver ever. But I hear people saying, "We won't know until He comes back and people start flying through the air to meet Him. Then we'll see if we're one of them." Aren't we calling God's trustworthiness as a gift-giver into question?

Schrodinger's Salvation. We know we have salvation and we don't know at the same time. 

I'm not much of a fan of cats, so Schrodinger can keep his cat. He can keep his salvation, too, as far as I'm concerned. Instead, I'll take Jesus's promise of eternity, the gift He has given us. I will trust Him to keep that promise, and live saying Yes to Him every day until then.