{"id":4770,"date":"2010-07-20T14:52:02","date_gmt":"2010-07-20T18:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=4770"},"modified":"2026-07-09T18:51:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T01:51:54","slug":"quantum-spirituality-has-entered-the-church-through-christian-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/quantum-spirituality-has-entered-the-church-through-christian-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantum Spirituality Has Entered the Church Through Christian Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Warren Smith<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leonard Sweet is definitely one of the point men for today\u2019s emerging\/postmodern\/Purpose Driven Church. As Rick Warren has aligned himself with Sweet, it is important to remember that Sweet has described former and present New Age figures as his \u201cheroes\u201d and \u201crole models.\u201d He has openly acknowledged that his quantum \u201cnew cell theory\u201d understanding of \u201cnew light leadership\u201d was formulated with the help of veteran New Age leader David Spangler. Additionally, Sweet describes mystical New Age priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin as \u201cTwentieth-century Christianity\u2019s major voice.\u201d1 And while Sweet\u2019s almost \u201cin your face\u201d New Age sympathies are there for all to see, Rick Warren, and other Christian figures continue to hold him in high esteem. But it is just business as usual as Warren\u2019s apologist tells us that \u201cDoctrinally\/theologically, Leonard Sweet is about as Christian as anyone can get.\u201d2<\/p>\n

In his 2009 book So Beautiful<\/em>, Leonard Sweet underscores his quantum \u201crelational worldview\u201d3 by favorably quoting from William Young\u2019s The Shack<\/em> regarding relationship.4 He also tells readers to look to Margaret Wheatley\u2019s Leadership and the New Science to further understand his quantum view on the \u201cspiritual and social significance of relationship.\u201d5 And he still continues to refer readers back to his 1991 book, Quantum Spirituality<\/em>.6<\/p>\n

While appearing to be somewhat of a 21st century renaissance man who leaves everyone in the wake of his postmodern intellect, Leonard Sweet\u2019s \u201cscientific\u201d postmodern\/quantum\/New Age view on things raises some critical questions\u2014particularly in regard to his association with Rick Warren. If Warren, Sweet, and other Christian leaders continue to move the church towards the New Spirituality, how will it ultimately play out? Will we see Warren, Schuller, Sweet, McLaren, and other \u201cNew Light\u201d leaders signing a mutual accord someday affirming that God is \u201cin\u201d everything? Will that proclamation be based on new \u201cscientific findings\u201d from quantum physics? Will they explain that Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and the \u201cGod\u201d of Neale Donald Walsch and William Young had it right\u2014that \u201cthe sub-atomic reality\u201d is that God is in every atom? That God really is\u2014scientifically speaking\u2014\u201cin\u201d everyone and everything?<\/p>\n

But what about the inevitable reaction that will come from those referred to by Rick Warren as \u201cfundamentalists\u201d7 when they accuse Warren of flip-flopping? Will Warren defend his new worldview by repeating what he said at the Saddleback Civil Forum\u2014that \u201csometimes flip-flopping is smart because you actually have decided a better position based on knowledge that you didn\u2019t have\u201d? Armed with seemingly scientific \u201cfacts\u201d from quantum physics, will Warren defend his new worldview by stating, \u201cThat\u2019s not flip-flopping. Sometimes that\u2019s growing in wisdom\u201d? Is this where Warren, Sweet, and other Christian leaders will try to take the church? Are they about to take a big \u201cquantum leap\u201d into the New Spirituality of a New Age that is based on the findings of the \u201cnew science\u201d? Given the continued New Age implications of the emerging Purpose Driven movement, it would seem that this is a real possibility. (from A “Wonderful” Deception<\/a><\/em>, chapter 13)<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/strong>
\n1. Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality, op. cit., p. 106.
\n2. Richard Abanes, \u201cLeonard Sweet, Rick Warren, and the New Age,\u201d http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20090315041827\/http:\/\/abanes.com\/warren_sweet.html.
\n3. Leonard Sweet, So Beautiful (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009), p. 279, #118.
\n4. Ibid., p. 101.
\n5. Ibid., p. 256, #22.
\n6. Ibid., p. 278, #107.
\n7. Rick Warren referred to \u201cChristian fundamentalism\u201d as \u201cone of the big enemies of the 21st century.\u201d See: Paul Nussbaum, \u201cThe purpose-driven pastor,\u201d Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 08, 2006, http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20060522084523\/www.philly.com\/mld\/inquirer\/living\/religion\/13573441.htm?template=contentModules\/printstory.jsp.
\nOn May 23, 2005, Rick Warren spoke at the Pew Forum on Religion and stated the following: \u201cToday there really aren\u2019t that many Fundamentalists left; I don\u2019t know if you know that or not, but they are such a minority; there aren\u2019t that many Fundamentalists left in America. . . . Now the word \u2018fundamentalist\u2019 actually comes from a document in the 1920s called the Five Fundamentals of the Faith. And it is a very legalistic, narrow view of Christianity.\u201d See: \u201cMyths of the Modern Megachurch,\u201d http:\/\/pewforum.org\/events\/index.php?EventID=80.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Warren Smith Leonard Sweet…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,287,311],"tags":[35,64,130,216],"class_list":["post-4770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-purpose-driven-movement","category-the-new-sciences","category-saddleback","tag-rick-warren","tag-leonard-sweet","tag-quantum-spirituality","tag-warren-b-smith","wpcat-52-id","wpcat-287-id","wpcat-311-id"],"yoast_head":"\nQuantum Spirituality Has Entered the Church Through Christian Leaders - From the Lighthouse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/quantum-spirituality-has-entered-the-church-through-christian-leaders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Quantum Spirituality Has Entered the Church Through Christian Leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Warren Smith Leonard Sweet...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/quantum-spirituality-has-entered-the-church-through-christian-leaders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"From the Lighthouse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LighthouseTrailsResearch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-20T18:52:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-10T01:51:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Warren B. 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