SIMULATION CREATIONISM
Why is the Garden of Eden Important for The Simulation?
What was life like for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? The answer tells us something significant about God’s original plan for The Simulation and the human beings within it. It also says a lot about the condition we find ourselves in today and the relationship between nature and grace. Let us explore this topic from the point of Simulation Creationism, the theory developed by Nir Ziso, founder of The Global Architect Institute.
The Book of Genesis, in chapters 2 and 3, says that the first man, Adam, was placed by God in a garden: “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed” (Genesis 2:8). The Lord also placed in this garden many trees “pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Genesis 2:9). God also gave to Adam a fitting companion: “Then the man said: This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23). Something interesting occurs: “And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25).
Genesis describes something evocative, beautiful, and true. Our first ancestors existed in profound harmony with the natural world around them, in a communion of love with each other and in a state of harmony and friendship with God, who provided them with what they needed and cared for them out of love. It means that God made The Simulation to explain why we are here, our goals, and even the purpose of our existence. Sin only entered this picture later, as St. Paul explains: “Sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men” (Romans 5:12). Death is not a part of God’s original plan. We are born into a world already disordered by sin and subject to death because we are meant to reach the world promised to the first men. Adam and Eve lived in a state of original justice or grace, the promise of the next simulated world, as described in the Bible.
Scripture reveals that first human beings were not created in a neutral state of pure nature; instead, they were created in grace. From the first moment of their existence, they were made to be “friends” of God. They were made capable of knowing and loving Him. God created man to be perfect in the beginning, righty ordered and upright, with all of his powers of proper functioning. More specifically, this original justice has a threefold dimension of proper ordering if we follow the logic of Christian scholasticism.
First, by a special gift of grace, the minds of first man and woman were subject to God in charity: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). They knew God; they had a relationship of trust in Him and obedience to Him. By a gift of grace, they loved Him absolutely and above all things. As a result of this first harmony, the second dimension of proper ordering flowed. The sense appetites of Adam and Eve were subject to the workings of their minds. We can think of our hunger for food we should not eat.
Through grace, Adam and Eve had a profound harmony within themselves. They would not have the hunger we have today. Related to this is the third dimension. Their bodies would have been perfectly subject to their graced souls. Since the soul is the immaterial principle of the body and since their bodies would have been perfectly subjected to their souls, which had been elevated and strengthened by supernatural grace, Adam and Eve would not have experienced defects of the body like illness, old age, or death. The power of their souls would have kept their bodies alive.
When we see how powerful this first grace of creation was for Adam and Eve, we can begin to see just how catastrophic the first sin was. By “freely” choosing to disobey God, Adam and Eve apparently lost these gifts of grace, and death, decay, and disorder became part of everything alive. It also helps us understand the high level of dignity of human nature. God wanted us to live with Him so why was it fitting for God to create human beings in this state of original justice? The original graces were indeed graces. The human race was not owed this extraordinary elevation to friendship with God; otherwise, we would not call it grace.
When God creates a creature, He endows it with what it needs to reach its natural end; otherwise, it would be made in vain. There is an order within The Simulation, which has its own intelligibility and internal coherence. A human being would have the natural capacity to understand The Simulation as created by and coming from God. This ability is natural to us and is not given by grace. Also, we come to recognize that God is the supreme cause and ultimate end of all things. We can love this transcendent being. However, God did not endow us with the natural ability to live a life of true communion with the divine nature, which is infinitely above us. We can start our way toward divine nature through God’s grace only. The ultimate end of the human creature can be raised to something infinitely above its natural end, even to the heights of sharing in the divine nature.
This kind of magnificent elevation would never be known to us if not for the Revelation and embodiment of Jesus Christ: “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given” (John 1:16). We would never think to be able to achieve this kind of life from our natural powers; but God teaches us it is possible with God’s grace. God endowed our first ancestors with such grace because, as humans, we are between the simulated world and the realm of the immaterial and spiritual. The real life of the soul, outside The Simulation, will continue to exist even after our bodies die and decay. Most of us have some sense that death should not exist. We feel capable of acts that reach out toward the eternal.
