What Physics Might Be Saying About God
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth… and in him all things hold together.”
— Colossians 1:16–17 (ESV)
The Scientific Puzzle: Reality May Not Be What It Seems
Modern physics is increasingly willing to admit that the universe may be deeply strange. One of the most compelling (and disorienting) ideas to emerge is the holographic principle—the notion that all the information in our 3D universe may be encoded on a 2D surface, much like a hologram.
As physicist Leonard Susskind put it:
“The world doesn’t appear to be a hologram, but it might be . . . The information that we think is inside a volume of space might actually be stored on the boundary of that space.”¹
This radical notion emerged from black hole physics. In the 1970s, Jacob Bekenstein and Stephen Hawking discovered that the entropy (informational content) of a black hole is proportional not to its volume, but to its surface area.² This raised a disturbing question: What if the universe works the same way?
The idea gained strength through Juan Maldacena’s AdS/CFT correspondence in 1997, which showed that a gravitational universe in 3D could be fully described by quantum field theory in 2D.³ While this model doesn’t directly describe our universe (which isn’t an AdS space), many physicists believe it points to something deeper.
“The deepest level of reality may be mathematical. If that’s true, then the ultimate source of physical reality is information.”
— Edward Fredkin, MIT physicist and digital theorist⁴
To be clear, I am not claiming or suggesting that we do live in a holographic universe. This is a theoretical framework, not settled science. But if the holographic model turns out to be valid, then it would be remarkably consistent with what we’d expect if a rational, eternal, and intelligent Creator exists. The idea that information precedes matter, and that reality is ultimately grounded in an unseen order, fits squarely within the Christian worldview.
Wait—Is This Like the Matrix?
Let’s clear something else up right away: saying the universe might be holographic is not the same as saying we live in a simulation, like in The Matrix. In that film, humans are trapped in a virtual reality created by machines, and their experiences are entirely artificial.
The holographic principle isn’t about illusion or deception. It’s about how physical information might be stored differently than we expect. It doesn’t say the world isn’t real—it says the deepest structure of reality might be more like encoded information on a cosmic boundary than matter floating in empty space. In this model, what we perceive is still real, but its origin and architecture are more complex and layered than we once believed.
As physicist Sean Carroll explains:
“The holographic principle is not about us living in a fake world. It’s about how gravity and quantum mechanics can work together to describe space-time in a more complete way.”⁵
In short, the holographic principle is a scientific model, not a dystopian science fiction scenario. But if it’s true, it points toward a designed, intelligible cosmos—one that may reflect the mind of God, not the code of a machine.
Information Is Not Random – It Requires a Mind
If the universe is built on information, then the origin of that information becomes a central question. Information doesn’t just arise from randomness. It carries structure, purpose, and intentionality.
Werner Gitt, a German information scientist, writes:
“There is no known law of nature, no known process, and no known sequence of events which can cause information to originate by itself in matter.”⁶
This is not simply a theistic assertion—it’s an empirical observation. Codes, blueprints, and language are always tied to a mind. As J.P. Moreland summarizes:
“Information is not reducible to matter and energy. It reflects purpose, intention, and mental agency.”⁷
So, if the structure of our universe is fundamentally informational, then the best explanation is a transcendent Mind. This aligns powerfully with Christian theism.
A Syllogistic Case for God from Information
Let’s build the case step by step:
- Information, especially the kind that determines the structure of the universe, requires an intelligent source.
- The holographic principle suggests the universe is fundamentally composed of structured information.
- Therefore, the universe points to an intelligent Mind as its source.
Conclusion: A universe built on information is more reasonably explained by a rational Creator than by blind chance.
Scripture and Logos: The Word Behind Reality
The Christian worldview doesn’t just accommodate this insight—it begins with it.
“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.”
— Psalm 33:6 (ESV)
God speaks creation into existence (Genesis 1). He does not forge it from chaos or wrestle it into shape from pre-existing matter. He declares it. In John 1:1, we read that the Logos (Word) was with God and was God. The Greek term Logos carries profound philosophical weight—it refers to reason, order, and meaning.
C.S. Lewis wrote:
“In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity . . . and down to the very roots and seabed of the Nature He has created.”⁸
If the Logos is the ground of all reality—and that Logos became flesh in Jesus Christ—then the Christian story is not only spiritually true but cosmically consistent.
If the holographic model turns out to be valid, then it would be remarkably consistent with what we’d expect if a rational, eternal, and intelligent Creator exists. The idea that information precedes matter, and that reality is ultimately grounded in an unseen order, fits squarely within the Christian worldview.
The Universe as Meaningful Communication
If information—not matter—is the bedrock of reality, then we’re no longer dealing with randomness or brute physicality. We’re dealing with language, structure, and intentionality.
As physicist John Wheeler famously put it:
“It from bit.”
—John Wheeler⁹
Everything—“it”—arises from “bit”—a binary unit of information. But bits are not self-interpreting. They require a code, and a code requires a mind.
This insight has led some thinkers, both Christian and secular, to reexamine their assumptions. Physicist Paul Davies, while not a traditional theist, admits:
“The impression of design is overwhelming.”¹⁰
Such statements don’t prove Christianity, but they open the door. If the deepest layers of physical reality look more like code than chaos, more like thought than dust, then we are confronted with a choice: dismiss the implications, or investigate them.
Steelmanning the Objection: “Isn’t This Just a Metaphor?”
Skeptics may rightly say: “The holographic principle is mathematical, not mystical. It’s a model that works in certain settings, like Anti-de Sitter space, but our universe doesn’t behave exactly like that.”
That’s a fair point. But here’s where the steelman lands:
- Even if it doesn’t describe our universe directly, the holographic principle has become a useful theoretical tool in quantum gravity, suggesting something deep and non-local about the nature of information.
- More importantly, the very fact that science now views space, time, and matter as emergent rather than fundamental is consistent with what the Bible has taught all along: that what is seen is not ultimate.
- The fact that immaterial logic and mathematical structure undergird the physical world is more easily explained in a theistic framework, where logic, reason, and design have a source.
As philosopher William Lane Craig argues:
“It is no longer science versus God. The more we discover, the more the structure of the universe appears rational, knowable, and finely tuned.”¹¹
Echoes of Scripture in the Structure of the Cosmos
The Christian worldview has long held that creation flows from the Word. Scripture makes bold claims that reality is not ultimate in itself, but grounded in something beyond:
“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 11:3 (ESV)
This doesn’t just match Christian theology—it begins to look eerily parallel to the holographic principle. What we see—matter, shape, energy—may be a manifestation of something deeper, something spoken into being.
Michael Heiser noted:
“The unseen realm is not myth. It’s more real than what we can touch, because it’s eternal.”¹²
The structure of reality points to something transcendent. Not randomness, but revelation.
Beyond Materialism – Toward Meaning
If the universe is built on information, and information presupposes a mind, then materialism collapses. Matter is no longer self-explanatory. It becomes the effect, not the cause.
As Stephen Meyer puts it:
“The idea that information could arise without intention, from purely material processes, is like believing that a library wrote itself.”¹³
Even the famously skeptical Richard Dawkins once admitted:
“The machine code of the genes is uncannily computer-like.”¹⁴
He didn’t mean it theologically—but it shows how deeply design-like our world appears.
The point is not to trap people with analogies. It is to invite them to reconsider their assumptions. If we are living in a spoken universe, then it makes sense to ask: Who is the Speaker?
The Cosmos as a Declaration
I’m not saying physics proves Christianity. But I am saying that the more we learn about the nature of reality, the more it converges with the claims of Scripture:
- That a Word underlies all things
- That what is unseen is foundational
- That meaning is embedded in the structure of the cosmos
And if the Logos is not a metaphor but a Person—Jesus Christ—then the story of the universe is not only scientific, but personal.
As C.S. Lewis said:
“In science we have been reading only the notes to a poem; in Christianity we find the poem itself.”¹⁵
Let’s read beyond the notes.
Final Challenge: What Will You Do If the Science Points to God?
If the holographic principle—or any future discovery—ultimately confirms that our universe is fundamentally informational, structured, and points to a reality beyond itself, the question isn’t just scientific. It becomes personal. Will the skeptic accept this if it becomes widely recognized as hard science rather than theological speculation?
Or, like with the fine-tuning of the universe, will some retreat into unobservable multiverses to avoid the implications? And like with the beginning of the universe, will others grasp for a past-eternal, infinite cosmos, even when logic and thermodynamics argue otherwise?
And if life itself—even the simplest cell—reveals encoded information, functional syntax, and biochemical “language,” will the skeptic still cling to the belief that mindless matter produced all this order? As molecular biologist Douglas Axe warns:
“There is simply no way a purely material process can generate the kind of functional coherence we see in even the simplest living systems.”¹⁶
There comes a point where it’s no longer about evidence—it’s about the willingness to follow it wherever it leads. If both the universe and the cell are whispering the name of their Creator, the question is no longer “Can I explain this away?” but “Am I willing to listen?”
Footnotes
¹ Leonard Susskind, The Black Hole War (New York: Little, Brown, 2008).
² Jacob D. Bekenstein, “Black Holes and Entropy,” Phys. Rev. D 7, no. 8 (1973).
³ Juan Maldacena, “The Large N Limit of Superconformal Field Theories and Supergravity,” Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 2 (1998).
⁴ Edward Fredkin, as quoted in Tom Siegfried, The Bit and the Pendulum (New York: Wiley, 2000).
⁵ Sean Carroll, quoted in George Musser, Spooky Action at a Distance (New York: Scientific American/FSG, 2015).
⁶ Werner Gitt, In the Beginning Was Information (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2006).
⁷ J.P. Moreland, The Recalcitrant Imago Dei (London: SCM Press, 2009).
⁸ C.S. Lewis, Miracles (New York: HarperOne, 1947).
⁹ John Archibald Wheeler, “Information, Physics, Quantum,” in Complexity, Entropy, and the Physics of Information, ed. Zurek (1990).
¹⁰ Paul Davies, The Cosmic Jackpot (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007).
¹¹ William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, 3rd ed. (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008).
¹² Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015).
¹³ Stephen C. Meyer, Signature in the Cell (New York: HarperOne, 2009).
¹⁴ Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden (New York: Basic Books, 1995).
¹⁵ C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (New York: HarperOne, 2001).
¹⁶ Douglas Axe, Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed (New York: HarperOne, 2016), 179.
Tom's Theology Blog 
Leave a comment