Life Depends Upon the Immaterial

Biological information is prescriptive, as illustrated by the understanding that genetic information defines biological processes and the systems of which they are part. Likewise, minds are prescriptive and impart meaning to matter and not the other way around. Furthermore, mental processes and their abstract products cannot be physically measured and are therefore are not comprised of or a property of matter. Because prescriptive information is always traceable to an intelligent source, it follows that it is a non-physical product of a non-physical mind. This is illustrated by the understanding that information is not bound to whatever medium onto which it is encoded, since information can be shared without translocation it's material medium. If information were comprised of or a property of matter, it would not be possible to convey information without translocation of the material medium upon which it is encoded. For example, it is possible to share the information that is encoded in a book without moving any of the matter that comprises the book - a book can be read aloud and it's information shared with a listener, yet none of the matter of the book is transferred to the listener. This analogy provides a clear understanding that the information which defines living systems is a product of intelligence, and not a product of material processes.

Evolution theory is based upon the material processes of chemistry (as with Abiogenesis) and biochemistry (as with Evolution Theory), evolution therefore cannot account for the information which defines living systems, and we have profound evidence that a mind of astonishing intelligence is the origin of the prescriptive information that defines living systems and the nano-technology the cell.


Atheisms requires materialism and determinism to be true. Why? Because spirit can be said to be an immaterial mind or life force, and if humans have no spirit, then they have no mind (which is immaterial), and if living things have no mind, they are comprised from matter only and there was no mind which begat them. Under these conditions, there is no sentience, no intelligence, no purpose, no purposefulness, no intentionality, no intentions, and no functionality, and no function to anything. If that were so, then all processes are due to material causes.

Unfortunately for atheists, none of that is the case. In fact, modern science has revealed certain facts about living things that could not have been imagined in 1857 when Charles Darwin published his infamous book. So much has been learned about biological systems, especially since the 1970’s, that we have been confidently able for decades to say without reservation that evolution theory is not scientific but is in fact a philosophy, and it that has been thoroughly disproven. One of the proofs that evolution theory is false is the fact that we know today that biological systems, their features and functions, are defined by information, algorithms, and linguistics. What makes this fact an irrefutable proof that life is a product of both Intelligent Design and Special Creation, and in fact cannot have been produced by matter in motion is that information, algorithms, and linguistics are non-physical (immaterial) products of minds.
Information theorist Henry Quastier has stated, “The creation of information is habitually associated with conscious activity."

That’s an understatement. In fact, information can only be produced by minds. There is no potential for material causes to produce information, algorithms, or linguistics. Dr. Gitt Werner is the former President and Professor od the German Federal Institute of Information Technology. He is the world's foremost authority on Information Theory and has advanced Information Theory more than any other information theorist. In his book, In the Beginning Was Information, Dr. Werner states,

“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.”
In regard to the potential for evolution theory to be true in light of the advancements of Information Theory, he has stated,

“The basic flaw of all evolutionary views is the origin of the information in living beings. It has never been shown that a coding system and semantic information could originate by itself in a material medium, and the information theorems predict that this will never be possible. A purely material origin of life is thus precluded.”

When an atheist hears such statements, they often argue for their unimaginable faith that material causes are nonetheless capable for producing the information in biological systems. Moreover, they have even been known to argue that the information in biological systems is not actually information, but that we simply call it information because the term seems to fit what we are describing. While the atheist thinks he has slipped out of the grip of the argument that information in biological systems is a product of an immaterial mind, but in reality, they are simply making an admission that they are discussing information. Do we call an automobile a car simply because the word “car” seems to describe it accurately, or because it actually is a car? Such is the absurdity of the atheist’s excuse for denying the reality that organic systems actually are based upon real information, which could not exist if atheism were true anyway. However, the faith of the atheist that material causes can produce information is without merit.

One of the facts about information which proves that it is a product of mind and not material causes is the fact that information is non-physical. This has been understood and elucidated for many decades. In his work, “Cybernetics; or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, 2nd edition (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1948), p. 132.”, Norbert Wiener wrote the following:

“Information is information, not matter or energy. No materialism which does not admit this can survive at the present day.”

If the Big Bang theory were true, then the matter of the early universe was once hot gas, which is one of the most random systems known to science. Random systems cannot produce information, and therefore a materialistic big bang cannot have resulted in the information which exists in biological systems, and cannot be causally related to the information that people continuously create. Many scientists have applied statistical analysis and analytics to the ability of material causes to produce information (as well as proteins), and in all cases the ability has been demonstrated to be none. Dr. Jonathan Sanford, geneticist of Cornell University has stated,

“If there are more than several dozen nucleotides in a functional sequence, we know that realistically they will never just ‘fall into place.’ This has been mathematically demonstrated repeatedly. But as we will soon see, neither can such a sequence arise randomly one nucleotide at a time. A pre-existing ‘concept’ is required as a framework upon which a sentence or a functional sequence must be built. Such a concept can only pre-exist within the mind of the author.”

Scientists Jack T. Trevors and David L. Abel have stated,

“No known hypothetical mechanism has even been suggested for the generation of nucleic acid algorithms.” (“Chance and Necessity Do Not Explain the Origin of Life,” Cell Biology International, Vol. 28, 2004, p. 730.)

While I could provide many more statements from scientists that make my point, I won’t bog you down in them. Instead, I will provide an easily understood explanation of how we know that information proves the evolution theory false, and proves also that life is a product of a mind of unfathomable genius and power.

The root of the word “information” is “inform” for a good reason. It is because information is knowledge conveyed from a sender to a receiver using a language agreed upon by both parties. Without a sender, either as a direct provider of the knowledge or as a original cause, there is no informing and thus no information. When a person conveys knowledge to another, they are a direct informer. When a computer programmer writes a software application designed to provide knowledge to another application on the computer or to another computer, the programmer is an original cause of the information. While in this case the program itself may directly provide the knowledge, the program could do nothing unless the programmer instructed the software on what knowledge to provide. If the informer speaks Portuguese but the receiver speaks only English, there will be no informing and thus no information is formed. Both must speak the same language, whether it is human language, computer language, sign language, or any other in order for knowledge to be conveyed. Here we see that information requires language – another immaterial thing which further demonstrates that an immaterial mind is necessary for information to be formed. Language is based upon symbolic meaning, which cannot exist if materialism were true and immaterial minds did not exist.

Imagine that we have two people watching a concert. One of them notices the drummer is sweating. He has by observation gained knowledge about the drummer. However, at this point no information has been formed since there has been no informing performed. Once this person turns to the other and states, “The drummer is sweating.” there has been information formed because the informer has conveyed his knowledge to the receiver. If the informer spoke Portuguese and the receiver spoke only English, though there was an attempt to convey knowledge, the knowledge would not be conveyed and no information has been formed.

One of the characteristics of information that demonstrates that it is immaterial is that it is not bound to it’s medium. When information is stored on a medium, such as in a book, the material of the book does not disappear as the information is conveyed to the receiver. This is because the medium is not the immaterial information. The Bible can be printed as a book with paper and ink, it can be copied to a memory card, and can be verbally spoken! In all cases the information is exactly the same regardless of the medium, and the medium itself is not transported from the sender to the receiver in order to receive the information. The book, memory card, and the air in these examples are not the information itself. They are only the medium which is used to convey the information. Information does indeed require a physical medium to be either stored or conveyed because we live, move, and think in a physical existence. However, the information is not physical.

The root of the word “information” is “inform” for a good reason. It is because information is knowledge conveyed from a sender to a receiver using a language agreed upon by both parties. Without a sender, either as a direct provider of the knowledge or as a original cause, there is no informing and thus no information. When a person conveys knowledge to another, they are a direct informer. When a computer programmer writes a software application designed to provide knowledge to another application on the computer or another computer, the programmer is an original cause of the information. While in this case the program itself may directly provide the knowledge, the program could do nothing unless the programmer instructed the software on what knowledge to provide. If the informer speaks Portuguese but the receiver speaks only English, there will be no informing and thus no information is formed. Both must speak the same language, whether it is human language, computer language, sign language, or any other in order for knowledge to be conveyed. Here we see that information requires language – another immaterial thing which further demonstrates that an immaterial mind is necessary for information to be formed. Language is based upon symbolic meaning, which cannot exist if materialism were true and immaterial minds did not exist.
To help understand how we know the information is not the medium, consider the following example. A point that is often overlooked when discussing information, is the importance of “how” and “what”. If we arrange the furniture in our living room in a particular way and we were to weight the furniture, it may weigh 500 lbs. Now if we rearrange the furniture in a different way and weigh the furniture again, it still weighs 500 lbs. The only difference between the two arrangements is not “what” is arranged, but “how” it is arranged. While the furniture is the “what” that is arranged, and is physical, the “how” it is arranged is not physical. The same is true of information. We can arrange the text characters of the Bible in an unintelligible way and we will convey no knowledge. However, “how” the letters are arranged is not physical, and is necessary for information to be formed. Likewise, imagine that we have a robot that can walk and weighs exactly 100 lbs. If we delete the computer program in the robot it still weighs exactly 100 lbs. even though we have removed the information which enables it to walk. The information, which is the program, has no mass and is intangible. It is stored in the manner in which the microscopic switches in it’s memory chip are arranged. The memory chip is only the medium which stores the information, but it is not the information itself. Furthermore, we can arrange the text characters of the Bible in an unintelligible way and we will convey no knowledge. But if we arrange the characters in a manner so that they represent knowledge, they can be information. The information is not the characters (what is arranged) but instead it is the manner of their arrangement (how it is arranged) that constitutes the knowledge that becomes information when it is conveyed.

Let’s consider now the absurdity of the materialist’s denial that information is an immaterial entity. Many atheists argue that information is physical simply because they refuse to acknowledge that since information is immaterial it is produced by an immaterial mind, which can be easily likened to the spirit. Since they deny humans have a spirit, they deny the mind is immaterial, and are therefore stuck in claiming that materialism is absolute. Effectively, they deny the very existence of the Non-physical Domain. One glaring problem with the materialist’s false argument is that mental properties cannot be physically measured like physical objects. They have no physical dimensions, no mass, and are not even tangible. All things can be divided into two distinct domains: The Physical Domain and the Non-physical Domain. The Physical Domain includes all things that have mass, are tangible, and of course, physical. The Non-physical Domain includes all that has no mass, is tangible, and of course, non-physical. Some things which are part of the Non-physical Domain are information, algorithms, linguistics, persistence of Self-Identity, personal intentions, philosophical reflection, consideration that results in a change of mind, unconfused lies, the comprehension of the process of time, the recollection of past events, the existence of qualia (private experiences), the truth that people are genuinely moral agents, the ability to understand and appreciate a state of affairs, the aptitude to evaluate and plan for future activities with inbuilt contingencies, the perception and appreciation of beauty, the aim of improving an activity one performs by concentrating, and the continuous volition of intending and attending. Because materialism follows from atheism, atheists must, if they are to be consistent in their beliefs, deny the existence of these and other members of the Non-physical Domain, which reveals the atheist’s belief system to be a delusion whereby so much of that which the world depends upon and operates by simply does not exist. The irony is that the materialist employs these non-physical things all the time, and their life depends upon their existence.

An example of the absurdity of denying that information is a member of the Non-physical Domain would be a university professor giving a lecture to a room of 50 students. If information were material, and if that material were the brain material of the professor because information is material, then in order for that professor to speak to and share information with the students, a stream of brain matter must travel from the professor to the brain of each of the 50 students in the room in order for him to share information with them. This illustrates the sheer absurdity of denying the immateriality of information. Moreover, we cannot even imagine what kind of mechanism would be systematically and efficiently directing the brain matter from the professor’s brain to those of the students. To press the matter, consider how preposterous it would be to believe that someone who has spent countless hours of speaking to groups over an entire career has been sending matter from their brain to their listeners, and their brain has therefore been either grossly reduced in size or completely disseminated simply by speaking to others. I suppose the ultimate example of such absurdity would be one who speaks to millions of listeners at once via television broadcast. If materialism were true, Harry Reasoner or Tom Broakaw must have gone through numerous brains over their careers!
The absurdity of the materialist’s position on the immaterial mind and information has been commented upon many times by experts in related fields. Consider the statements below:

"Materialists have taken note of the growing efforts by non-materialist neuroscientists to point out the deep problems with the inference that the brain is entirely the cause of the mind. Materialist neuroscience, like materialist evolutionary biology, is a vacuous orthodoxy, and its proponents resent threats to their dogma. Darwinian explanations for functional biological complexity are nonsense, but some familiarity with the relevant science is necessary to understand that it is nonsense. Materialist explanations for the mind are transparent nonsense." - Dr. Michael Egnor, award-winning neurosurgeon, scientist of the human brain

"The plain fact is that the materialist picture of the body and brain as the producers, rather than the vehicles, of human consciousness is doomed. In its place a new view of mind and body will emerge, and in fact is emerging already. This view is scientific and spiritual in equal measure and will value what the greatest scientists of history themselves always valued above all: truth." - Dr. Alexander, teaches at the University of Virginia Medical School and has been on the faculty at Harvard Medical School.

The fact that information is a non-physical entity by itself discredits all of the worldview of the atheist. However, one might wonder how it provides substanciation for the Christian’s worldview. If we have an immaterial mind, we can say this mind is likened to the spirit. Jesus Christ Himself explained that the spirit is not a physical entity when speaking to Nicodemus:

John 3
[6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
[7] Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
[8] The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Scripture mentions that we have both spirit and flesh many times. The atheist finds it difficult to see themselves as having a spirit as well as flesh. Stuck in their materialistic, earthly oriented view of the entire world and themselves, they have difficulty and may be completely incapable of either recognizing, or at the very least, acknowledging that the non-physical domain is verification of the non-physical life force within them – the spirit. For this reason, no atheist can be a truly trustworthy source of knowledge or truth in science, philosophy, or matters of the heart, since they are unwilling to acknowledge the very basis for all things. Scripture directly addresses this prison in which the atheist lives, and why the atheist is locked in their delusion. What has imprisoned them however, is their heart, which is unwilling to humble itself to our majestic Creator:
Romans 8 [5] For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.