"To what can I compare this generation?" Said Jesus (Matt 11.16) preparing to use a simile as an illustration of what the people of his day were like. In the same vein, to what can I compare the power the Creation Information Barrier evidence/argument/truth compared to other arguments in support of the necessity of a supernatural intelligence in the creation of life when discussing the origin of life? Superman, I think is appropriate.

Superman, with all his powers, is clearly the most powerful superhero. He is so powerful in fact, that they had to give him a weakness just to make a way to have a story line without Superman defeating the villain in the first few seconds of a fight. Because a fight between Superman and human is like a fight between a 150,000 pound sauropod dinosaur and not a human (as the graphic below), but a mouse. It is simply no contest.

Sauropods compared to a human

But even giving him a weakness - Kryptonite - was not enough. He was still too powerful, because how will the average villain get their hands on Kryptonite when they need it? So they had to give Superman more weaknesses. I could go on about the need to weaken Superman to show his strength, and how they did it, but such a digression is not necessary. You get the point.

Now consider a superman with no weaknesses. With his full powers. Not susceptible to Kryptonite. Using every power wisely and to the extent necessary so no foe could defeat him. You have an undefeatable, matchless, superhero. Like a sauropod stepping on a mouse. That's how undefeatable. Got the picture?

This then is should give you an idea of the power of the evidence based Creation Information Barrier as Dr Kenneth Funk calls it in an article at Creation.com. In the world of Creation vs Evolution; or God vs. Atheism, or Origin of life,  the Creation Information Barrier (CIB) is undefeatable. It's like a sauropod against a mouse. It stands victorious against any secular theory of origins. Once you understand the foundations of the CIB and the science behind it, you will understand why no secular theory of origins theory can stand against it. 

Not Like Other Evidence Based Arguments
Apologists like Jason Lisle and Sye Ten Bruggencate point out (correctly) a problem with most evidence based arguments: At the end of the argument, it comes down to some probability - however massive and overwhelming - of the evidence being true. Ten Bruggencate points it out here. Or as Lisle puts it, secularists can generally come up with a saving device to save their false theories as he points out here. So in other words, most evidential arguments leave secularists with the feeling they have an out, an excuse why your argument for creation or God doesn't work. Thus apologists like Lisle and Ten Bruggencate have turned to presuppositional arguments as the only sure way to win debates on origins or divine ontology. Presuppositional arguments assume the truth of creation at the outset as fundamental. But is that the only way creationists can win decisively in the origin of life arena?

This is where the Creation Information Barrier is different. This is where the power of the CIB shines through. Because the CIB evidence does not require a presuppositional approach, nor does it resolve down to a probability. It only requires an adherence to the laws of physics and science - which atheists claim they do. When such adherence is maintained,  it is demonstrably 100% certain and true. And its conclusions are always the case, not some probability - however high - of being true. Let me say it again - the conclusions from the CIB is not probably true, it's always true. Furthermore, there is no saving device that can be used against it - except the foolishness of denying science and reason and appealing to things like magic and irrational thought. But foolishness can always be appealed to - even if using presuppositional arguments. To "defeat" the presuppositional argument, you merely need to deny the presupposition. It's foolish and irrational, but when the goal is to deny God, for some, there is no foolishness too foolish if it will keep the divine foot out of the door.

But for atheists and other secularists who consider themselves to be bastions of reason and guardians of science and the knowledge gained from it, they cannot appeal to such foolishness without it being made plain to see that they're really not interested in science or truth. They're not interested in reason or logic. They're not interested in the best evidence. They're interested in denying God and keeping Him out of their world view and lives. And they will go to any extent necessary to achieve that goal - even if it requires being a fool. But for those with enough integrity not to appeal to foolishness, who are willing to  truly consider the evidence, here is the irrefutable evidence of the CIB.

The Power of the Creation Information Barrier

So what, exactly, is the creation information barrier? There are two pieces two it: Part 1. The Origin of Information and Part 2: The Usage of Information via codes purpose and function. Let's look at each individually.

The Creation Information Barrier Part 1:
The Origin of Information: Non-Material

Where does information come from? Part 1 of the CIB deals with the origin of information within the context of the Laws of information. There are four building blocks to part 1 of the barrier which are themselves an impassable obstacle for secular origin of life theories. They are as follows:

1. Information is a fundamental part of reality
The building blocks of the universe are: Space, Time, Matter, and information. (Spotlight on information)
Steven Meyer  puts it this way:

"During the 19th century scientist believed there were two fundamental entities - matter and energy. But as we enter the 21st century there's a third fundamental entity that science has had to recognize and that is information."[1]

Next, Gitt's first two laws of  Information explain the relationship between the origin of information and matter. Understand these are scientific laws, unchanging like the law of gravity. They are both real and true.

2. Non-material things do not come from material things
3. Information is a non-material thing[2]

And finally the importance of information to life:

4. Life Requires information; Life is impossible without specific, life permitting information.

This barrier alone demonstrates that materialistic theories for the origin of life are impossible. Simply and utterly impossible. But there is another equally impassible barrier described in part 2.


Part 2: Codes, Purpose and function
To use Information requires artifacts that originate only in the mind such as symbols and codes. The use of such codes require a sender with purpose and a receiver with appropriate reception abilities.

Information alone that is not shared, that remains a concept in a single mind cannot impart life. To be useful for life, it must be shared and imparted on matter in such as way that the information uses matter, either by conforming it, or superimposing up on it, the rules of information sharing via codes. In so doing it causes the matter to convey the message and achieve the purpose intended by the creator of the the message.  Dr Funk puts it this way:

"To have a meaningful transfer of functional information or code there must be a sender and receiver at each end of the transmission. There must also be an understanding of meaning at each end for the code to be useful. Therefore, there must be some form of intelligence or at least a mechanical machine or chemical molecule to receive the code, interpret it, and perform the desired function."[3]

This is yet another barrier to materialistic theories on the origin of life. Everything involved in the sharing of information: The creation and use of codes, the creation of a message, the creation of a receiver capable of receiving the message - all originate ultimately in the mind of an intelligent, purposeful creator.

Once you understand these barriers and the components of them you understand the insurmountable gap that faces the materialist trying to formulate a theory for the origin of life. And the questions should be apparent:

From the first barrier:
Where did the information necessary for life come from?  Material objects, however you conceive of them to arrive into existence (another problem for secularist that we won't address here), must be imbued with information to become living things. Since information, a non-material entity needed for life cannot have arisen from a material object, where did it come from? And how did it get bound and imparted to material objects like chemicals in such a way as to result in life?

From the second barrier:
How did information get encoded into the DNA molecule? Where did the code come from? How did it come to be that DNA and RNA function as a repository of information with a means to transmit that information?

The secularist cannot answer these questions. All of these are required for life. Yet there is no chance that any of it happened accidentally. None. It's not a matter of chance - it is impossible. Neither is it a matter of time. No amount of time, no amount of eternities will allow sufficient time for the material to produce the non-material. Or conceive of and transmit coded messages. The laws of information and physics prevent it. It will never happen because it is simply impossible. Thus the element of time and chance has been removed.

That is the super-power of the CIB. That is why it will always win the origins argument. The secularist - who is forced to be a materialist (one who believes only in a material world) due to his rejection of God, will never be able to give an adequate answer to the origin of the information needed for life, or how that information got imparted to the material to produce life, or the codes needed to share it. They cannot explain in a secular manner what God did in Gen 2.7.

New Life for Evidence Based Arguments

For those who have felt the need to abandon evidence based arguments for presuppositional arguments, with the CIB, they can return. And the power of the argument lends itself to a number of different catchy ways to illustrate its strength and ability to overcome secular theories. Here are some of the alternate titles and illustrations I considered for this article. (I share because each one also imparts not only the power of the argument, but also a little enthusiasm, which I hope you'll catch.)

Evidentialism: A New Hope
   [Star Wars theme][4]
The Resurrection of Evidentialism
   [Biblical theme]
Why The CIB Kills the CMBR
   [Big Bang Theme - CMBR - cosmic microwave background radiation]
Presuppositional Arguments: King No Longer 
   [Chess theme or perhaps a jousting theme]
98 lb Weakling no more:  CIB: the Superman of Evidentialism
   [Charles Atlas theme]
CIB: Like Superman with no Kryptonite weakness
   [Superman theme]

You can see the one I chose. Feel free to use it or any of the others.  Now that I've given  you some ideas to start with, I hope you will go forth and use this information as a tool in your arsenal of weapons used as those in 2 Cor 10.4. Not merely worldly weapons, but divinely powered to destroy secular strongholds.


Duane Caldwell  |  September 22, 2024

Notes

1. Steven Meyer, ref from: Unlocking the Mystery of life, Illustra Media documentary, 2002
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2. Summary by Scott Hardin, “Embarrassing Information“, Midwest Creation Fellowship lecture, Feb 7, 2022, https://youtu.be/HrHQAnXcdRk?t=2694 
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3. Kenneth Funk, The Creation Information Barrier, Creation Ministries International, 20 August, 2024, https://creation.com/creation-information-barrier Back
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4. In 1981, "Star Wars" originally released in 1977 was rereleased with its full title: Star Wars: A New Hope - which was Episode 4 in the 6 part series.
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