The vast majority of Christian apologists are terrible apologists simply because they aren’t very bright. So, to show how apologetics could be handled if half-competent people were at the helm, this article will provide an argument for the existence of God. Now, because the Christian God doesn’t actually exist, this argument has flaws in it. Can you spot them? Can you defeat Joe Shmoe at his own game of reasoning?
Bring in the Big Guy – apologists clearly have no concept of the task that lies before them! But this guy, he’s not just any Joe Shmoe – he’s the Joe Shmoe!!
It Begins
What are all these atheists on? How do they explain the universe?
If there’s one thing I can’t understand, it’s how atheists can possibly explain the existence of the universe. What caused the Big Bang? Why do the constants of physics and math have such specific values as to allow the universe to exist? And why, after billions of years, does the universe have the specific values that allow for the evolution of human beings who can ask questions like this?
I don’t know about you, but when I read those “13 reasons you should be an atheist” or whatever lists, and come to number 12 and it’s something like, “Well, there’s no good design in the universe, therefore a designer isn’t needed,” and I realize the writer of the list hasn’t really thought through their position, or they’re being dishonest. Because if the universe wasn’t finely tuned, we wouldn’t be here to argue about it!
But atheists try to answer the fine-tuning problem by saying there are an infinite number of universes, and each one is different, so statistically a few of them are going to be suitable for life. It’s just statistics, and it’s not a good explanation. Why? Because you’re just multiplying the problem. If you need to posit an infinite number of universes, which I guess means an infinite number of Big Bangs, then you have to explain what caused all these Big Bangs.
And then you have to explain why all these Big Bangs produced different universes, instead of the same universe over and over. That’s another free lunch you’re getting. But if there’s one thing physics has taught us, it’s that you can’t get something for nothing. Energy can’t be created or destroyed. So where’s it come from? What state was it in before the Big Bang?
I think the reason these explanations don’t satisfy is that, at some level, we realize that these aren’t explanations. They’re just excuses. And I think people want more. They want something that’s more than just a way to get out of a tight spot.
So let me propose a real explanation.
The universe is made of information. Information is encoded into the matter and the energy and the spacetime that make up the universe. Now, information is conserved, just like energy. Information doesn’t get created or destroyed. It can only change form. Where does all this information come from? The only place it can come from is the mind of God. Only minds can contain, conceive, arrange, and express information. Therefore, the information must have come from a mind.
And, of course, the information has to come from an intelligent mind, not a stupid or a crazy mind, because the information in the universe is very, very precise. The slightest difference in the values of the fundamental constants of physics would mean no stars, no planets, no people, no question, “Where did the universe come from?” So, the source of the information had to be intelligent.
I know a lot of people, maybe even most people, will immediately think of the universe as a giant computer, or say something about quantum mechanics. But you should bear in mind that there are two kinds of information: there’s information that actually conveys intelligence, and then there’s information that is merely the product of nonintelligent processes. I can write a computer program that spits out random digits, but those random digits are not information in the sense of conveying meaning. They’re merely the output of a deterministic nonintelligent process.
Now, people sometimes say that the universe is like a quantum mechanical system, and therefore the universe is fundamentally probabilistic. There is no underlying deterministic theory that predicts everything that will happen in the universe, and so the universe is just the result of probabilities. But that’s not really true, is it? I mean, think about it: we may not know exactly what the weather is going to be like a year from now, but we know it’s not going to rain purple skittles.
We do know that the universe is deterministic because we experience determinism all the time. Gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces are all deterministic. The universe is made up of fundamental particles obeying deterministic equations.
So, to summarize what we have so far, the information in the universe could only have come from an intelligent mind, because it’s not useless information; it follows an intelligent pattern. Furthermore, this information is encoded in a deterministic way, not probabilistically. Thus, the source of the information must be an intelligent, deterministic mind. Matter and energy are simply the physical expression of this intelligent information.
As for where God came from, I suppose you can say that God has always been around, and has no beginning and no end. But I think we can be a little more specific. I think the universe is a message, and I think that message is being written by God. But who created God? The answer is no one. God has always been around. God is eternal.
How can I say that? I’ll tell you how. The information in the universe is conserved. God, being the source of all the information in the universe, is also conserved. Therefore, God has no beginning or end. God is the central intelligence that directs all information. He exists because it’s impossible for him not to exist. He is mandated by the conservation of information. He might even be an emergent phenomenon – the result of the self-organization of a very large amount of information.
Either nothing or something exists. If it’s something, then it must be information, because nothing is nothing, and nothing can’t contain information. So, what is the universe? The universe is a message, a grand masterpiece of meaning, of which God is the author and the ultimate purpose.
And why did God create the universe? Well, if you’re an artist, you’d make paintings even if no one else was around to see them, right? God is an artist. The universe is God’s grand artwork; it’s his means of self-expression.
But if reality is nothing but information, then what does this information describe? All information applies to something, doesn’t it? Or does it? The information that makes up the mind of God is self-referential. The information in the universe has nothing but itself to refer to. God’s thoughts are self-referential: They apply to him, and only him. From our perspective, information seems to describe other things, but that’s just because we can’t see the complete picture. We’re like a fly on the back of a giant elephant, who thinks he can see the whole elephant just by looking at his little patch of skin.
The universe is a hologram. That is, all the information that makes up the universe is actually stored at the boundary between the physical and the nonphysical. So, God is the source, and the observer, of the hologram. In a sense, God is a simulation that he created. But God’s simulation isn’t like our simulations. Our simulations are mere shadows of reality. God’s simulation is the embodiment of reality.
And how does the universe work? The universe works like a brain. Like the human brain. Information is expressed through matter and energy. That information is organized into systems. Those systems are organized into other systems. There is a hierarchy of systems, from the subatomic to the atomic, to the molecular, the organelle, the cell, the tissue, the organ, the organ system, the organism. Each higher system has access to the information of all the systems below it, but the information can only be acted upon within its own boundaries. The organism acts on the organ systems, the organ systems act on the tissues, the tissues act on the cells, and the cells act on the molecules, the atoms, and the subatomic particles.
Now, the universe doesn’t have a central nervous system, so the universe is not conscious. But the human mind is. How can that be? Because consciousness is just an arrangement of information such that it can reflect upon itself. So, a human brain can be conscious, because the structure of the human brain allows for consciousness. The human brain contains an endless hierarchy of systems, from the subatomic to the global, and thus, a human can perceive and understand the entire universe.
God, being the ultimate mind, is infinitely intelligent and infinitely knowledgeable. He knows everything there is. He’s also the highest system of all, so he can act on any information in the universe.
To recap: the universe is the self-expression of God. The information that composes the universe is both physically expressed through matter and energy, and mentally perceived and understood by the mind of God. God is information, which must exist because it’s the only alternative to nothingness. The universe is a hologram that is self-contained, with the information that defines it contained at the boundary between the physical and the mental, and is, thus, a simulation, or an embodiment, of the mind of God (or part of it).
Intelligent information, by its nature, must have been organized by intelligent processes. There’s absolutely no randomness or uncertainty involved. So, the universe is an intelligent, ordered, and predictable expression of God’s mind.
The universe is not just some thing. It is a message. It’s an intelligent structure of information. That information is encoded into matter and energy, hence why they obey set laws and patterns.
Isn’t this so much more satisfying, doesn’t it have so much more explanatory power, than the atheist’s answer, which is just, “You’re a fluke!”
The atheist wants to claim that you and I, and everything else in the universe, are nothing more than the result of a long string of random coincidences, which produced ever more complex and organized systems until it produced self-consciousness – information reflecting on itself! That’s absurd. A computer generating random bits would not, by sheer chance, write an intelligent program. It’s an impossibility. You need a programmer – an intelligent being to repurpose unintelligent information for intelligent purposes.
Atheists’ problem is that they don’t distinguish between unintelligent and intelligent information. Atheists’ explanations are all predicated on the notion that information is nothing more than the product of nonintelligent processes and that nonintelligent processes can somehow give rise to intelligence. This is not possible.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
– John 1:1
Trumpism of the Day
“VIRGINIA: Early Voting HAS BEGUN! We need ALL VIRGINIA PATRIOTS TO GET OUT AND VOTE, so that our WIN is “TOO BIG TO RIG.” In order to take our Country back from the Radical Left Thugs and Lunatics that are destroying it, including our Border, the Migrant Invasion, Economy, Inflation, Rising Gas Prices, Cost of Goods, and Crime, we must vote in numbers that they have never seen before. VOTE EARLY, VOTE NOW and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” – Truth Social, September 21, 2024 [Link]
To secure the vote, Trump has to up the stakes. He has to essentially tell people it’s Armageddon if he doesn’t get in office. But if you think about it, what will happen if he gets into office? – more or less the exact same thing as if he doesn’t, except with slightly different policies that always leave the underlying, corrupt structure intact.
You can polish a shit, but it’s still a shit unless you change its composition. America is the same. It’s a shit right now, and no matter how much polishing Trump does, he will not change its composition.
To create a revolution, you have to do more than appealing to what people already are: you have to appeal to what they could be. You have to dream, and the only stuff Donald Trump dreams up is yet more shit to toss on the garbage pile. Trump ain’t anyone’s salvation. He’s just the Shit Man come to sell shit to you and make it look delicious. And the Shit Eaters just love it. Don’t forget your knives and forks, all you con victims!
Enlighten yourself. Stop dumbing down.
IN SOMNO EVIGILABIS
