SIMULATION CREATIONISM
Faith in Truth of The Simulation
When the Bible talks about the world’s creation, it is not scientific in the modern sense. The first two chapters of Genesis are not the report of someone present in the moment of creation of the universe and everything in it. The Bible talks first about God, then things dressed in analogies and metaphor. Images are used for peoples of the old world to convey a particular theological interpretation of events. Our task is to find the truths embedded in Simulation Creationism, a theory developed by Nir Ziso from The Global Architect Institute. These truths are not found simply by means of scientific measurement but by exploring our faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Hebrews 11:1–3). Simulation Creationism offers a conceptual background, answering the question of “how,” but it still has to be rooted in a deep faith in the truth of the Holy Scripture.
Metaphorical images do not compare reality with one image but serve to explain our felt reality. These images are anthropomorphic and rise from a depth of human “being-in-the-world.” Therefore, they have a significant potential for a human personal perspective and social conviction. In the end, these are only partial images and texts. Grammar and semantics are not free from objectivity: they are characterized by the multitude of subjective perceptions.
Associative images afford us an opportunity, as characteristic of all good images, to always look new and actual, they can be discovered and experienced in so many ways. Their truth is not abstract but very subjective, and the whole truth cannot be discerned easily: “Then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out” (Ecclesiastes 8:17). In other words, what we call reality may just be a simulation. Or, we can call it The Simulation because we do not have any other words or concepts to explain what we subjectively see and feel.
We need to emphasize that Simulation Creationism looks at nature, the living world and the humans in it as dependent on God as Creator. When the Bible begins with God’s creation, there is the danger of seeing God as a physical being, similar to us but with far more power, who acts in the universe similar to how we use the materials around us.
It also means that we cannot understand creation except in a very human sense. Creation for us always needs substance, things from which we can “create” something new. It is expressed in the image of a potter who uses clay as a formidable substance in God’s hands. Although God is not in fact a potter, this image tells us that the pot is entirely in his mighty hands: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Revelation 4:11).
The traditional definition of creation is making things from nothing that has existed before. The act of creation does not assume a thing itself or the items from which it would be made. God creates things without changes: a thing is created in being, denoting an existential relation of dependence upon the Creator as the beginning of all being. Thus, creation does not imply the beginning of a being that could continue to exist by itself. Moreover, it gives solid insight into the nature of the misunderstanding between theology and hardcore science about evolution. All these explanations are here for a reason; namely, they are all characteristics of The Simulation, indicating why Simulation Creationism has such an appeal.
Scientific evolution is based on Darwin’s research. However, a scientist can only claim whether a species has gone through the process of evolution from one kind to another. Whether evolution has anything to do with God and creation, a scientist cannot say as it is a theological issue. A scientist cannot use God to explain natural events because it would be theologically inappropriate. Namely, God is the foundation of nature and never its part. At the same time, a scientist might be blind to the supernatural roots of the world. In short, scientific evolution says nothing about metaphysical possibilities nor about ontology.
Thus, if scientific evolution is not misused for antireligious content ( “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ,” Colossians 2:8), the theory has no relevance to the ontological existence of God or the genesis of all things. In addition, for theories such as Simulation Creationism, it does not have any particular meaning.
The same goes for fundamentalist creationism, as their supporters try to equate creationism (and every religious person is by definition a creationist, as she/he believes in a God Creator) with science, downgrading the relevance of religious teaching. If we follow the Bible, it clearly says that the body is made from something that existed before. At the same time, God gives the soul: “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7). Simulation Creationism affirms this by saying that the soul is the direct creation of God outside the physical world. By contrast, this world is a mere simulation where our souls learn about the reality of God.
