by AllanS » December 31st, 2008, 9:55 pm
We're creatures within a creation. When I get sick, I see a doctor (a creature skilled in manipulating certain aspects of the creation) and I pray (to the creator).
I've used this illustration many times before so forgive my repetition.
Imagine a programmer who makes a virtual world called Eden, consistent to the smallest detail. He creates an icon called Adam and links it to an artificial intelligence sitting on his hard-drive. Adam wakes in Eden and proceeds to explore. Being a clever little AI, he soon concludes that Eden is 14.5 billion years old. He decides there is no need for a Creator, and no evidence for one either.
Or suppose a programmer is interested in exploring the unfolding of a given set of initial mathematical conditions (like cellular automata: ). He lets his program run for 6 days and 6 nights on his uber-computer before examining the results. To his delight, it's generated a universe of stars, and orbiting one star, a planet, and on that planet intelligent life, a life-form which laughs at the idea of a Creator.
Both these scenarios create the illusion of time for the creature, and neither imply the creator is deceitful or malicious.
(An aside. Why is mathematics so powerful in describing the universe? Because the universe itself is a program running in the mind of God.)