SIMULATION CREATIONISM
Jesus: Divine Guide in Life’s Simulation
Contemplating God from the position of Simulation Creationism means we see his divine rule in a specific manner. Religion calls it obedience to God’s commands. We encounter an issue instantly since Simulation Creationism, as proposed by Nir Ziso, does not give humans any particular role in the decision-making process. After all, free will is just a mode of computing events in The Simulation. In short, these events are predetermined. Therefore, obedience is not about true loyalty to God’s Word. It is about something else.
Through the Biblical revelation, the Creator commands his creation from the very beginning: “And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:16–17). Why did God make boundaries for Adam? We can presume the tree had nice and tasteful fruits full of vitamins and good for health. Why would God forbid something inherently good? If God created man out of love, why are there illogical commands? Certainly not to torture Adam and withdraw something good and healthy. This command has nothing to do with the tree, fruit, or health but with becoming aware that creation must obey the Creator. Everything that exists is God’s property, as he is the absolute ruler. Being obedient, created souls glorifies the Creator.
Obedience is the main relationship of created beings to God. Without it, we can be tempted to value things by ourselves, turning to lust, greed, looking for fame, unrest, and even wars. Those who succumb are computed to experience such feelings and negative thoughts. Souls obedient to the Creator have the advantage of seeing the beauty in such a deed.
Not a single command is too small nor too big. Still, obedience can be too difficult and painfully misunderstood. It may not be a problem to obey the order of not eating particular fruit, but it is a problem to sacrifice one’s own son, as Abraham was asked to do. Despite it, Abraham obeyed and was ready to kill Isaac: “Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son” (Genesis 22:10). Therefore, the nature of commands is not a problem; the question is whether our love and loyalty to God are big enough. Whoever found love for God in the Bible instead of following one’s own “pure logic” may understand why the holy book goes well beyond all the simulated environment.
When we start to doubt that God’s ways are truly best for us, disregarding the need to stay loyal to our Creator, uncertainty starts to dwell in our souls. It is another challenge and lure in The Simulation. The part we did not give totally to God, the amount we want to preserve for ourselves, only maximizes the illusion of The Simulation and is a source of fear and anxiety that we would otherwise be free of. The key that opens all doors is called obedience, particularly if we look at it from the Simulation Creationism perspective. If these challenges are only simulated to perfect our inner characters, we can be confident going through them.
Again, we can see a blueprint for this in Jesus Christ. He did not “save the world” by preaching in Galilee but through obedience up to his death on the cross. It was so hard that he prayed to God the Father, but in the end, he obeyed: “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). It is the exact obedience asked from us. Only in such obedience rests a safe haven. The goal of our obedience is unity with God beyond all the physical boundaries of The Simulation. Obedience is our path to God. It is the root of Christ’s behavior, which we cannot understand from the point of human logic or success. We are not called to success but to obedience in love.
We are accustomed to understanding renunciation as connected to outer persons and items. The genuine and most complex rejection is losing one’s personal will. Not as I want it, but as God wants it. Not what is logical, but what God says. We live our true inner poverty and humbleness if we obey God’s will. Of course, we cannot relieve ourselves from our personal will because it is part of our predetermined nature. Still, comprehending obedience to God is an equally important thing for the soul as perceived will.
God asks for dedication more than anything else in The Simulation, such as sacrifices, fasting, and giving alms. Nothing in the simulated world can be valid enough other than our desire for something we cannot reach inside The Simulation.
