Sir Isaac Newton, his peculiar theology, and the occult

[Hatikvah]

In writing this, I simply want to encourage discussion around Newton, his eccentric theology and his interest in the occult and anything else you all want to add. Okay, it’s pretty long, but I did my best to divide it into paragraphs with relevant information, and my sources are cited within.

Isaac Newton is often thought of as a great man to come out of the age of reason, bringing us out of the scientific “dark ages” in the end. He developed the three Newtonian laws of motion, and some other science and philosophy-involved things that you can read about here. While Newton made philosophical and scientific developments that we still care about today, there was an occultic and theological side to him that you might not know about yet.

Isaac Newton had a vague interest in the occult, with some scholars claiming that he belonged to secret societies such as the Rosicrucians. I couldn’t find much on this, so this is probably the most fulfilling article from a magick-obsessed website: ultraculture.org/blog/2016/06/13/what-was-isaac-newtons-occult-research-all-about/

Newton, while raised an Anglican, was a nontrinitarian (he did not believe in the Trinity). Newton went so far as to read not just the King James Version of the Bible, but he read many different ones. He came to the conclusion that the Johannine Comma (1 John 5:7-8) was a deliberate addition to the Bible with the goal of convincing people of the Trinity. Newton wrote a list of twelve reasons why he did not believe in the Trinity. Because this was heresy, it was marked as “not fit to be printed” after his death. You can read the list of Newton’s nontrinitarian points here. (Also the primary source for the paragraph; if you have faith issues, I recommend skipping that reading.)

Newton is known to have taken an interest in the Book of Daniel and Revelation. He wrote a book called “Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John” which you can read in its entirety here (not a PDF). He predicted that the world would end before 2060, but did not specify a year. Many of Newton’s contemporaries, including Jonathan Edwards, started their apocalyptic predictions at the year at 756 A.D., because this marks the Donation of Pepin the Short (when the Papal States was founded). Newton said about his predictions:

This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail.

As many Protestants living in 17th century England believed, Newton believed that the papal office (but not any pope in particular) was the antichrist. He also predicted the number of years that the antichrist would rule for (Wikipedia says 1,260 years, but I cannot verify that). He also believed that the Jews would return to the Holy Land before the end of the world. (More reading)

Discuss and comment!

 

[jaimeleglise]

Interesting.

 

[LutheranScholar]

biography.com/people/isaac-newton-9422656. Sir Isaac Newton was beyond doubt a fascinating product of his times. Like many geniuses, his behavior at times could be quite irrational and he suffered from a very bad hubris bbc.co.uk/timelines/zwwgcdm that led him to make some fairly poor choices, indeed. His religious ideals were certainly unique for his day: ldolphin.org/newton.html, rsc.byu.edu/archived/converging-paths-truth/brief-survey-sir-isaac-newtons-views-religion.

Sir Isaac Newton did in fact revolutionize our understanding of science and he left us a great legacy, but his feelings on religion ( while entirely his business) should perhaps be considered more on the Arian side of the religious spectrum rather than the Trinitarian side: sirisaacnewton.info/newtons-arian-beliefs/, isaac-newton.org/articles/, uufhc.net/s080427.html.

Sir Isaac Newton wasn’t only a closet heretic, however. He also had a very methodical natural philosophy ( the man was a very deep thinker. One gets the impression that he did everything deliberately and his embrace of Arianism, like his naturalism, came as a result of deep study and reflection) plato.stanford.edu/entries/newton-philosophy/, adherents.com/people/pn/Isaac_Newton.html.

As smart as he was, as utterly brilliant as he was and as cognizant as his theories and as revolutionary as his discoveries, he had one major flaw that manifested in his behavior toward those who disagreed with him and it might even have manifested in the heresy he embraced: Pride. He thought he could actually understand God and reduce Him to human equations. He rejected the scholarship and revelation of those thinkers, saints and scholars who preceded him and landed on the side of the Bishop Arius futurism.com/the-madness-of-sir-isaac-newton/.

 

[mackbrislawn]

In writing this, I simply want to encourage discussion around Newton, his eccentric theology and his interest in the occult and anything else you all want to add. Okay, it’s pretty long, but I did my best to divide it into paragraphs with relevant information, and my sources are cited within.

Isaac Newton is often thought of as a great man to come out of the age of reason, bringing us out of the scientific “dark ages” in the end. He developed the three Newtonian laws of motion, and some other science and philosophy-involved things that you can read about here. While Newton made philosophical and scientific developments that we still care about today, there was an occultic and theological side to him that you might not know about yet.

Isaac Newton had a vague interest in the occult, with some scholars claiming that he belonged to secret societies such as the Rosicrucians. I couldn’t find much on this, so this is probably the most fulfilling article from a magick-obsessed website: ultraculture.org/blog/2016/06/13/what-was-isaac-newtons-occult-research-all-about/

Newton, while raised an Anglican, was a nontrinitarian (he did not believe in the Trinity). Newton went so far as to read not just the King James Version of the Bible, but he read many different ones. He came to the conclusion that the Johannine Comma (1 John 5:7-8) was a deliberate addition to the Bible with the goal of convincing people of the Trinity. Newton wrote a list of twelve reasons why he did not believe in the Trinity. Because this was heresy, it was marked as “not fit to be printed” after his death. You can read the list of Newton’s nontrinitarian points here. (Also the primary source for the paragraph; if you have faith issues, I recommend skipping that reading.)

Newton is known to have taken an interest in the Book of Daniel and Revelation. He wrote a book called “Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John” which you can read in its entirety here (not a PDF). He predicted that the world would end before 2060, but did not specify a year. Many of Newton’s contemporaries, including Jonathan Edwards, started their apocalyptic predictions at the year at 756 A.D., because this marks the Donation of Pepin the Short (when the Papal States was founded). Newton said about his predictions:

As many Protestants living in 17th century England believed, Newton believed that the papal office (but not any pope in particular) was the antichrist. He also predicted the number of years that the antichrist would rule for (Wikipedia says 1,260 years, but I cannot verify that). He also believed that the Jews would return to the Holy Land before the end of the world. (More reading)

Discuss and comment!

Newton was very religious, and a non-Trinitarian. But, oddly enough, it is by means of Newton’s laws of motion that I use to demonstrate the truth of the Trinity! For instance, take Newton’s law, for every action there is an equal reaction, or for every force there is an equal counterforce. That is, actions cannot exist by themselves, nor can a force exist by itself. Actions and forces are only revealed by the reactions and counterforces they generate. As an example, when you sit at your desk, your weight presses against the chair, and you can feel the chair pushing back. Your weight is the action or force, and the pushing back by the chair is the equal reaction or counterforce. You can’t push against anything unless there is something to push back! It would be like the sound of one hand clapping. You can’t push against empty space. So, the action begets the reaction. And, the reaction can do nothing without the action. Also notice that the action and reaction are equal, simultaneous, and in the same place. Nevertheless, they can be conceptually separated: you might think of the action as the Father to the reaction. The reaction is begotten by the action.

Doesn’t this sound a lot like the relation between the Father and the Son in the Trinity? The Son can do only what He sees the Father doing? When you have seen the Son you have seen the Father? I and the Father are one? The Father generates the Son from all eternity? The force generates the counterforce?

Now, what about the Holy Spirit? The above is the static example but God and the Holy Spirit are dynamic, motion. Well, there is another of Newton’s laws, force equals mass times acceleration, F = ma, or a = F/m. With a rocket, the action and reaction generate the acceleration and hence the motion of the rocket. The Holy Spirit. “And a mighty wind blew across the face of the waters.”

St Paul said we can learn about God by looking at His creation. We see that creation has structure, so then it makes sense that the Godhead has structure too, as shown by the Trinity. Without structure in the universe, nothing can happen. Just as there can be no isolated, singular force, there can be no isolated, singular Arian “Jehovah” nor “Allah.”

In regards to the filioque, it is through the interaction of force and counterforce that acceleration and motion result. The same way, the Holy Spirit comes from both the Father and the Son.

 

[Logically]

…Newton, while raised an Anglican, was a nontrinitarian (he did not believe in the Trinity). … He came to the conclusion that the Johannine Comma (1 John 5:7-8) was a deliberate addition to the Bible … Newton wrote a list of twelve reasons why he did not believe in the Trinity. …You can read the list of Newton’s nontrinitarian points here.
…
Newton is known to have taken an interest in the Book of Daniel and Revelation. … He predicted that the world would end before 2060, but did not specify a year…
Discuss and comment!

It sounds like Newton was well on his way to becoming a Jehovah’s Witness!

I also see he foresaw a revealing of Biblical truth and a global preaching work taking place before the mellienial reign of Christ: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Isaac_Newton#Prophecy
Where have we heard that kind of thing before?

 

[Logically]

…
St Paul said we can learn about God by looking at His creation. We see that creation has structure, so then it makes sense that the Godhead has structure too, as shown by the Trinity. Without structure in the universe, nothing can happen. Just as there can be no isolated, singular force, there can be no isolated, singular Arian “Jehovah” nor “Allah.”
…

A side point: Why are people who don’t believe God is a Trinity so often labeled “Arians.”


I know Arius argued against adopting the Trinity ideas at the council of Nicea (300 years after Jesus was on earth) - but that doesn’t mean everyone who doesn’t believe the trinity doctrine are his followers.

It is a bit like calling all vegetarians “Nazis” because Adolf Hitler didn’t eat meat.

Is calling ones who believe in one God “Arians” meant as an insult?

 

[mackbrislawn]

A side point: Why are people who don’t believe God is a Trinity so often labeled “Arians.”


I know Arius argued against adopting the Trinity ideas at the council of Nicea (300 years after Jesus was on earth) - but that doesn’t mean everyone who doesn’t believe the trinity doctrine are his followers.

It is a bit like calling all vegetarians “Nazis” because Adolf Hitler didn’t eat meat.

Is calling ones who believe in one God “Arians” meant as an insult?

It’s because Arius was the originator of his idea, the first. The Trinity idea was already believed before Arius came along. The deity of Jesus was not a new idea, Arius’ was. He denied an existing belief. Hence those who have similar notions as Arius can be called “Arians.”

Hitler was not the first vegetarian; he did not originate the idea of not eating meat.

An insult? If Arius is right, how can it be an insult? “Arian” is simply a description. But it is not correct either to say believers in one God are Arians, because Trinitarians are believers in one God. Followers of the Watchtower are believers in two Gods, an almighty god and a mighty god.

Well, there is an aspect that might be considered an insult. Because on the grand stage of theological history, it is Arius that is thought of, not the teachings of the Watchtower. “Unitarian” might also be a label.

 

[mackbrislawn]

It sounds like Newton was well on his way to becoming a Jehovah’s Witness!

I also see he foresaw a revealing of Biblical truth and a global preaching work taking place before the mellienial reign of Christ: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Isaac_Newton#Prophecy
Where have we heard that kind of thing before?

Newton was also very interested in the occult and alchemy, things like that. So if Jehovah’s Witnesses are into the occult, alchemy and such, then I guess Newton was on his way.