PHYSICIST SAYS “GOD IS A GIANT COMPUTER”

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they have committed detestable acts;
There is no one who does good. (Psalm 14:1)

I am talking with a ‘friend’ and an acquaintance who claims to be a Physicist. In fact, he has a Ph.D. in Economics, an M.S. in systems engineering and a B.S. in Physics. He hails from Bolivia but has resided in and is a citizen of the United States since his youth. He is a staunch Socialist and a democrat, and although he claims to be a trained scientist, his life work has been in economics.

During one conversation, he asked me if I believed in an afterlife? I answered that I am a Christian and that I firmly believe in an afterlife, for good or for harm, depending on what one believes. I told him that If you believe in Jesus as the Christ, then for good, if not then an eternal darkness of torment in the fires of hell.

He smiled, slyly, and scoffed. He then added that he was a Catholic at one time, but now he doubted that teaching. Still, it seems he has concocted a belief system of his own. One based on the influences of Catholicism and on his physics training, I suppose, which hast led him to believe in an afterlife. “After all,” he said, “Look at the magnificence of the universe of even the impossible complexities of the human eye.”

I asked him if, if that were true, if he believed in God? He shook his head in the negative, but said he believed in science and that the universe, in some magnificent way, preserved the essence of the soul of each human being after death.

I asked him where he got this idea, and if it came from his understanding of science, that he would please explain that to me. He said he could not.

I asked him if he had ever read anything by Paul Davies, specifically his book “The Mind of God”. (Davies is a British theoretical physicist with a doctorate in theoretical physics, and an astrobiologist who contributed to scholarly and popular debate on issues such as the origin of life and extraterrestrial intelligence. Davies became interested in quantum field theory and curved space-time, and focused much of his research in that area. He published The Physics of Time Asymmetry, the first of numerous books directed to his professional colleagues and to the public, in 1974. Davies then joined physicists Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose, who were researching the thermodynamic properties of black holes.)

My friend had heard of Davies but had not read that book.

I explained that the book was hard for me to read and fully understand, but after a couple of tries, I got the idea that Davies believes that God is actually a cosmic harmonic and a math equation of sorts. In fact, Davies startling conclusion is that the universe is “no minor byproduct of mindless, purposeless forces, and that the universe is a kind of gigantic computer.  He says, “We are truly meant to be here.” By the means of science, we can truly see into the mind of God.

My friend, again, smiled wryly as if I had fallen into his line of thinking and ‘knowingly’ (and annoyingly) shakes his head in the affirmative while stroking his chin to project Stoic wisdom, I guess.

Then I asked him, “To what end?”

His eyes widened, and he asked me what I meant.

“So what?”, I asked. “If you have an afterlife, so what? Are you going to drift about the universe as formless, useless ‘stardust’ (as his hero Carl Sagan would say, we are all products of the stars)?”

I continued, “Can you imagine the horror of having consciousness, an awareness, but being trapped in an eternity with no purpose, no ability to think or reason or to interact with your surroundings? Just aimlessly drifting, forever”

I continued, “You scoff at the teachings of the Bible, the existence of God and of Jesus the Christ as being ‘unprovable’ religious fantasies, yet you make up a story about an afterlife that has no basis in fact, not even one scientific theory to support your self-made idea? Doesn’t that sound a bit, well, hypocritical for a scientist – and dangerous?”

“Dangerous?”, he queried?

“Yes, dangerous”, I replied. “You are, in essence, telling me that ‘your life choices and your core beliefs will determine your afterlife’. Imagine, further, if what you are saying is true. If so, and if the Bible is correct that your life choices and your core beliefs will determine your destiny, then your essence, that is your soul, will either go to be with God in a tangible spiritual paradise, (heaven), or you will be condemned to drift aimlessly in torment, darkness and hell. How do you reconcile that?”

My friend looked at me and had no answer. So, I prodded him, “Well, what do you do with that?” I asked. Still, just a blank and silent stare.

Finally, he defiantly repeated his earlier claim, “You can’t prove religion”.

“You are right that I cannot prove the mechanics of religion, or of Christianity in particular.” I said, “But, I can point you to the empirical evidence and the observable, tangible outcomes in changed lives through Jesus. There are millions upon millions of people’s lives that have been positively changed for the better – I am speaking, of course, about those who honestly gave their lives to God through faith in Jesus and truly followed Jesus and His teachings.

The Bible clearly teaches that if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; that is made safe, made spiritually healthy and made whole; rescued from perishing (into an outer darkness of torment, loneliness and pain) and delivered out of the dangers of the result of sin and faithlessness and brought into the safety, the light, the provisions and privileges of the presence of God.

And, if that isn’t proof enough, my friend, then you will have to stick with your ‘idea’ that God is a giant cosmic 3-D computer.”

My friend guided us away from our conversation with a closing (and a very un-scientist-like, close minded) remark, “I am a scientist and I believe in science. The universe will work things out to an end”.

I like and care about my friend, but the Bible says, “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” Unfortunately, my friend is a nihilist. I pray for him. He is close to knowing, but he is blinded to the Truth by science and Satan. He has no hope, at this point, except for an eternal end with no destiny and no purpose.

My friend, and most in our world are turning away from the God of the Bible, in record numbers, just as the Bible said it would happen in these last days. (see the Great Apostasy). The Bible also warns that God’s judgment – The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord – will soon follow.

There is only one way to God, and that is Jesus. He, alone, is the Life, the Truth and the Way, and no one comes to the Father except by Him.

Perhaps this will help the rest of us to see why our world, which has come to depend almost solely on science, technology and government as our saviors, has lost its civility and morality and is spiraling out of control.

Friends, if you choose, you can see that this world age is hurtling toward its cataclysmic end – that is if you believe the Bible – and I do believe it. The Bible provides us with ample evidence through prophecies and the corresponding historical events (which have come to pass with exacting accuracy), to lead us to the undeniable and inevitable conclusion that The End of the Age is near.

Let the Light of Christ shine through your life and your lips proclaim His mercy and His Great Gift of Salvation. Jesus has told us that anyone who will trust in Him, can have His peace to protect them. Peace, and not as the world gives, but His peace and security. He has overcome this world.

Call on Him. Trust in Him. Rejoice in Him. Praise Him. He will be your refuge, your strength, and a very present help in times of trouble.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young