Simulation or Creation?
Why Either Way, God Is Real
What If the Universe Is a Simulation?
It’s a question that used to sound like science fiction. But not anymore.
With thinkers like Elon Musk claiming there’s only a “one in billions” chance we’re not in a simulation, and philosophers like Nick Bostrom laying out the logic behind it, simulation theory has gone mainstream.
It’s no longer just a Reddit rabbit hole. It’s a topic for TED Talks, research labs, and late-night debates.
But let’s cut to the real question:
If the universe is a simulation… what does that mean for God?
A lot of people assume it threatens belief in a Creator.
I think it does the opposite.
Simulation theory doesn’t weaken the case for God.
If anything, it strengthens it.
The Simulation Argument
If we’re in a simulation, then someone had to build it.
Simulations don’t run themselves. They require intelligence, power, and intention. There has to be a programmer. A framework. A logic that holds everything together.
And if that’s true, if we’re part of a designed system, then the entity behind that system is, by any reasonable standard, our Creator. Whether it’s a being beyond time or a civilization beyond comprehension, it still means we were made.
And that’s the key point:
We were made.
Which means we’re not an accident.
We’re not random.
We’re not meaningless.
That doesn’t diminish God’s majesty.
It magnifies it.
If we believe God is beyond understanding, then of course His methods would be too.
Who says creation has to look the way we expect?
Not All Simulations Are Safe
Of course, not all simulation theories imagine a benevolent designer. Some propose flawed programmers or even indifferent architects. Others raise the possibility of glitches, errors, or cruelty in the system.
But even that leads back to the same question:
Why is there something rather than nothing?
If a being exists who made this world, however advanced, however alien; we’re already talking about something transcendent. Something creative. Something god-like.
And once we ask about that being’s motives or morality, we’re in theological territory.
Whether we intended to be or not.
Or Maybe It’s Just… Creation
Let’s say the universe isn’t a simulation.
Let’s say it’s the old-fashioned kind of creation.
That still leads us to the same conclusion:
Someone made it.
The fine-tuned constants of physics, the emergence of consciousness, the symmetry of nature; none of it feels accidental. It looks built. It looks intentional.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
—Genesis 1:1
It doesn’t say how. It just says He did.
Atoms, algorithms, string theory, or something we haven’t discovered yet; whatever the method, the origin still points to a Creator.
People Make a Mistake Here
When some folks hear the word simulation, they panic. They picture a cold, artificial Matrix-style world where nothing is real and everything is pointless.
But that’s a misunderstanding.
If someone created our reality, code-based or not, it still means we were deliberately made. And if that creator is operating on a level of power and intelligence we can barely imagine…
That sounds a lot like what we’ve always called God.
The method doesn’t cancel the meaning.
If anything, it adds depth to it.
The Ancient Argument Still Stands
Long before there were computers, philosophers like Aristotle and Aquinas wrestled with these same ideas.
The “First Cause” argument says everything has a cause… so what caused everything?
Eventually, you get to something uncaused. Something outside space and time. Something eternal.
Call it the Prime Mover, the Foundation, or, as I do, God.
Even if someone made our simulation, you still have to ask:
Who made them?
And then who made them?
Eventually, logic forces you to stop somewhere.
At some ultimate, self-existent reality.
That’s the same conclusion Scripture has been pointing to all along.
I Used to Think I Was Too Smart for Faith
I thought science had outgrown belief. I figured the smarter you were, the less you needed God. And honestly, for a while, I didn’t just doubt. I liked doubting. It made me feel strong. Independent. Smarter than the system.
But the deeper I went into logic, systems, and science…
The more I started to feel something unravel.
Not all at once. Not with certainty. Just a quiet discomfort.
A sense that even the most complete equation couldn’t explain the ache behind it.
Even if we solved death, we’d still need grace.
Even if we unlocked all knowledge, we’d still need wisdom.
And grace doesn’t come from code.
It comes from a Person.
That’s what drew me back to faith. Not because I gave up reason, but because I followed it.
And at the end of all the data, all the theories, and all the simulations…
I found Jesus waiting.
Simulation Doesn’t Contradict Scripture
Some people ask, “But doesn’t this clash with the Bible?”
Not really.
The Bible doesn’t tell us how God created. It just tells us that He did.
It gives us the “why,” not the “how.”
The message of sin, grace, redemption, and relationship isn’t bound to physics textbooks or computer models.
Maybe when Genesis says God formed man from the dust, that “dust” is atoms.
Or code.
Or something else entirely.
What matters is that He gave us life, and meaning.
So What Changes?
It doesn’t rewrite the cross.
It doesn’t replace the Gospel.
But it might give us a new way to speak it, especially to people who grew up fluent in science, but not in Scripture.
It gives us a way to say:
Your curiosity isn’t a threat to faith.
It might be the very thing that leads you there.
God isn’t scared of your questions.
He’s the one who gave you a mind that asks them.
Final Thought
If this universe was created, God is real.
If this universe was simulated, God is still real.
Either way…
we were made on purpose.
And maybe, just maybe,
the reason you’re drawn to these deep questions is because you were created to ask them.
Everything I write is free to read. If you’d like to support this work, thank you—it truly means a lot.