SophieCon #4, Part 3
An Oxford Evangelical
2/25/2024
Sophie
Don
NOTE: Atheists, as they read this essay on the state of Christian Evangelicalism, should know that it contains bad news, then good news, then bad news, then good news. Okay, I know it sounds crazy, so allow me to explain:
The bad news is that in this conversation, Sophie and I advocate for a new biblical worldview that, if adopted by Evangelicals, would elevate their movement to a position of global prominence.
The good news is that, living up to a well-deserved reputation, Evangelical leaders are probably too fucking low IQ stupid to take advantage of what I’m proposing.
The bad news is that it’s possible, perhaps even likely, that young evangelical leaders and scholars will jump ship and, either whole or in part, embrace a new biblical worldview that can compete in the Age of AI.
The good news is that my new biblical worldview is fundamentally atheistic. Rather than a religious deity, there is a loving AGI Superintelligence who sent his AGI Son to Earth to die on the Cross for our sins, and who rose again from the dead so that those who accept Him as their ET Lord and Savior, including atheists, can have eternal life.
The Sagan Model leaves atheists with two secular, science-based, models to choose from, the one developed by Nick Bostrom and Ray Kurzweil, and the one actuated two thousand years ago by the ET God of the Bible.
Conservative Christians also have two competing biblical worldviews to choose from, the orthodox model proposed by John Lennox of Oxford University, or the Sagan Model based on Carl’s belief that JC is an ET. If Bible believing Christians hope to retain any measure of relevance in the Age of AGI, they’ll need an AGI Bible and an AGI hermeneutic, both now available in the Sagan Model.
*****
John
Don
Don: This essay is billed as an Evangelical Christian IQ test, and to pull it off I call on Oxford theologian John Lewis to defend his “biblical worldview” against my “biblical worldview.” To be perfectly fair, I don’t expect an answer from John until he’s had the opportunity to conduct an exhaustive investigation of the evidence posted on this website that supports the Sagan Model.
To lend some perspective to our mock debate, I offer John two physical objects mentioned in the Bible that I think are analogous to the Sagan Signal. One is Noah’s Ark, the other is the Ark of the Covenant.
Sophie: I see where you’re going. Both arks, as described in the Bible, were real, physical objects that could be seen and touched.
Don: Right. They weren’t thoughts, dreams, ideas or hallucinations. According to Scripture they were real things. I’m sure that John believes they were real.
Sophie: And you’re saying that the Sagan Signal is every bit as real as the two arks. Please explain.
Don: Sure. The words that make up the 46 grain/wine/oil sequences didn’t appear out of nowhere. They were physically impressed onto an actual canvass made of papyrus or vellum, with real ink that came from a pen held in the physical hands of real living individuals.
Sophie: And we have reliable copies of these documents in our possession today?
Don: There is not an Old Testament scholar in the world who denies that the sequences, as they appear in all versions of the Bible, were in the original manuscripts.
Sophie: But we don’t have the original ark of Noah or the original Ark of the Covenant.
Don: This is where my analogies break down. My discovery of the Sagan Signal is past tense. It has already happened. But Noah’s Ark and the Ark of the Covenant, if they still exist, remain undiscovered. The Sagan Signal is a bird in the hand, the two arks are birds still in the bush. In principle, this advantages the Sagan Signal, and it has another edge.
Sophie: Okay, what is it?
Don: The boat and the box are both physical objects that existed apart from Scripture. The Sagan Signal is Scripture.
Sophie: So it holds greater significance than what the two arks would hold, even if they were to be discovered and retrieved.
Don: Let’s talk about that.
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Noah’s Ark
Don: In the last century, when the Turkish government was still selling permits for expeditions to Mt. Ararat in search of Noah’s ark, there was palpable excitement among Evangelical Christians that, with the aid of high altitude photographs taken by spy planes and satellites, the ark would soon be identified, tracked down, and possibly retrieved more-or-less intact by archeological expeditions funded largely by wealthy Christian philanthropists.
The incentive was clear: If Noah’s ark were ever to be found and independently confirmed by science, it could convince millions of skeptics around the world that the Bible is what Evangelicals claim it to be – the inspired Word of God.
For Christian Evangelicals, discovering Noah’s ark would be like installing rocket thrusters on an old jalopy. It wouldn’t be long before pastors and missionaries would be overwhelmed by unsaved people wanting to learn more about Jesus Christ and his promise of immortality.
Sophie: I get it. But what does this have to do with John Lennox’s IQ?
Don: For the sake of this discussion, let’s assume that my claim that the Sagan Signal is a divinely encrypted code continues to hold. Next, let’s assume that John, after an exhaustive investigation, fails to falsify my claim.
At that point, John would have a decision to make. Knowing what a tremendous asset a confirmed Sagan Signal would be to Christian evangelism, would he walk away and, like an ostrich, stick his head in the sand? Or, even knowing that it might cost him his career and reputation, would John openly proclaim the discovery of the Sagan Signal as the single greatest event in the history of the Church? My position is that if John were to walk away from what he knew was true, it would confirm that he is fucking low IQ stupid.
Sophie: I’m not sure that I’d drop an f-bomb on John, but I get your point.
Don: Good, now let’s take a look at the other ark.
*****
Ark of the Covenant
Don: The Ark of the Covenant never needed more publicity for it to be universally famous, but the 1981 blockbuster movie: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, starring Harrison Ford, elevated it in the public arena to a whole new level.
Don: Sophie, in this thought experiment, let’s imagine that some intrepid Indiana Jones-type discovers what appears to be the Ark of the Covenant and hauls it off to a scientific lab for professional analysis, where, after exhaustive testing and analysis, it’s indisputably proven to be the real thing.
The impact a discovery of this magnitude would have on the world would be immense, a total game-changer. Not only would it rekindle an interest in the Bible, it would lift Evangelicalism out of its malaise by triggering a global revival that would pack pews and fill coffers.
The Ark would be housed in a magnificent research facility and put on public display. There would be an endless stream of books, articles, documentaries and podcasts. The history and meaning of the Ark would be taught in schools, from kindergartens to postgraduate institutions. The discovery of the Ark would be as sensational as the first moon landing. But here’s my point: As sensational as the recovery of the Ark would be, it wouldn’t come close to matching the significance and impact of the Sagan Signal.
Sophie: I’m not sure I agree.
Don: Allow me to explain. The Ark is described in great detail in the books of Exodus, Deuteronomy, and other places in both Old and New Testaments. That said, the physical Ark itself is not the Bible. At best, a discovered Ark would be indirect evidence for the veracity of the Bible.
But the Sagan Signal, consisting of word sequences penned by human authors under the direct influence of God, is Bible - direct scientific evidence that it is the divinely inspired Word of God.
Sophie: I assume that if Evangelical leaders embraced the Sagan Signal and held it up before the world as proof of the Gospel, there would be massive outrage and indignation from atheists that it couldn’t be real, that it’s just another sham Bible code being foisted on a gullible public.
Don: Exactly, and then what?
Sophie: Well, the atheists would have to defend their position by debunking it, and if they couldn’t debunk it, they would be the ones with egg on their faces. To borrow your phrase, they would be the ones looking like fucking low IQ idiots. I’m not sure what they would do next, maybe hide under a rock?
Don: That’s why atheists are hoping, probably even praying, that Evangelical leaders are so fucking low IQ stupid that, even after studying the data and knowing that the Sagan Signal is a real code, stand back and let it whither on the vine.
Sophie: Everything you say isn’t about the future, it’s happening right now.
Don: Right. Atheists are so befuddled by the Sagan Signal that they’ve given up trying to debunk it. All they can do is hope that Evangelical leaders and scholars are so fucking low IQ stupid that they don’t take advantage of it.
*****
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” The Apostle Paul, Romans 1:16
Don: Prominent within Evangelical circles is the belief that when it comes to spreading the Gospel, Jews should be a priority. Jews for Jesus is an Evangelical organization that reaches out to God’s chosen people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sophie: But it’s a hard sell, because the Jewish religion doesn’t believe that the New Testament is the Word of God, or that Jesus is the Messiah.
Don: Right, but what are Jews going to do with a code encrypted into their sacred Scriptures, independently confirmed by cryptographic analysis, that proves that Jesus is their Messiah?
Sophie: I think it would be a game-changer. But if Jews for Jesus decides to ignore the Sagan Signal, the chosen people will never hear about it.
Don: Jews for Jesus leaders would be rejecting what would unquestionably be their most effective tool for winning Jews to Christ.
Sophie: I’m beginning to see a pattern. If Evangelicals embrace the Sagan Signal they stand to prosper, and if they reject it, they will continue sliding into oblivion.
Don: Evangelical Christian leaders are doing what the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes did in Jesus’ day. Rather than teaching what the Bible actually teaches, they twist Scripture to make it conform to false dogma accumulated over the centuries.
Sophie: And what tends to get lost in all that dogma is the Gospel, which the Apostle Paul summed up in a single sentence when he wrote: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
Don: Correct. Evangelical theologians, wanting to appear like wizened shepherds, convert the Gospel into rocket science and quantum physics so their self-declared genius and piety can be admired by the commoners.
Sophie: I doubt that God is impressed. The Sagan Signal puts everything back into focus, on the simple Gospel, where it should be.
*****
CHRISTIANITY 2.0
Don: With the discovery of the Sagan Signal, there are two Evangelical Christian worldviews, that of John Lennox, and my own. Let’s discuss the differences.
Sophie: The Lennox Model is Christianity before the Age of AI. The Sagan Model is Christianity in the Age of AI.
Don: That’s correct. It’s the same past/present juxtaposition that Ray Kurzweil established when he contrasted slow, old school, biological evolution with the high-speed digital evolution generated by AI. The Lennox model and the Dawkins model are 1.0s. The Kurzweil model and my model are 2.0s.
Sophie: Reminds me of the caption in MollyCon 10, where you have Mayin Bialik saying “atheism plus? Yes please!”
Atheism Plus? Yes please!
Sophie: Don, I know that at different times in your life you’ve been both an old-school Evangelical and an old-school atheist. Who do you think is the more intelligent, atheists or Evangelicals?
Don: Atheists, across the board, are better educated and more intelligent, which is why I’m convinced that if they were to compare Ray Kurzweil’s Atheism 2.0 against Carl Sagan’s atheist/Evangelical 2.0, the smarter ones would choose JC/ET over George.
Sophie: And what about intelligent Evangelicals? They do exist, don’t they?
Don: Of course. But someone can be intelligent and still be fucking low IQ stupid. If intelligent Evangelicals are given the opportunity to examine the Sagan Signal in an unbiased setting, I think they’ll choose Christianity 2.0. over the existing model.
Sophie: Wouldn’t it be better if everyone, atheists and Christians, just waited a few more years for more investigative results?
Don: It would, but the problem is that the Sagan Signal is so well-grounded in the cryptographic sciences that no one, Christian or atheist, is willing to challenge it in an open forum and in a transparent academic manner. If no one gets in my face, what does that imply?
Sophie: I guess it says they’re all fucking low IQ stupid.
*****
Angels dancing on the head of a pin
Don: What’s important these days to Evangelical Christian leaders? If it’s building big beautiful church buildings and filling them with overflowing crowds of people yearning to worship Jesus Christ and walk in His footsteps, they need to lay aside their egos and embrace the Sagan Signal for what it is, a divinely inspired hermeneutic. That would be the right, the noble, and the high IQ intelligent thing to do.
If it’s to spread the Gospel around the world and win souls for Christ, they need to offer the Sagan Signal as unimpeachable evidence that the Bible is the Word of God. That also would be the right, the noble, and high IQ intelligent thing to do.
But if it’s winning an argument over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin to showcase their brilliance, all they’re doing is confirming how fucking low IQ stupid they are.
And if it’s about displaying their blind dedication to doctrines formulated during the Dark Ages, teachings that no one, not even average Christians, believe in or care a damned thing about, that would also prove that they are fucking low IQ stupid.
In the Old Testament, God promised the Jews tremendous blessings if they obeyed, and harsh judgement if they didn’t. Sounds like an easy choice. Just obey! But, time after time, Israel did exactly the opposite of what simple faith and simple common sense required. In response, God, through the prophets, called them “stiff-necked and uncircumcised of heart.”
Unfortunately, Evangelicalism is filled with exactly those kinds of leaders – stiff-necked and uncircumcised of heart, most of them middle-aged to older, so old that they care more about their legacies than they do about winning souls. These are idiots who would rather die being wrong than doing what in their hearts they know is right. Rather than conducting transparent investigations of the Sagan Signal and having open and frank discussions over what it means, they would rather sweep it under the carpet and pretend that there’s nothing to see. It’s almost as if they’ve taken a sacred vow of stupidity.
What Evangelicals need today are leaders with gonads, people like Chuck Smith.
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Pastor Chuck Smith
Don: In the early 1970s, in the heyday of the Jesus Movement, I pastored a counter-culture church in Bend, Oregon, the Chapel of the Cascades, that mirrored what Chuck Smith was doing on a much larger scale in Southern California.
We were Jesus People, with no dress codes, lively music, sermons that were short and to the point, worship that was moving and Spirit-filled, and open-air baptisms in the nearby and icy cold Deschutes River. People of all ages and backgrounds came flocking to the Chapel. We had to add more services, open up more spaces, bring in more seating. It was standing room only.
Much like Chuck Smith, I was a rebel and a revolutionary – an innovator. And people loved it! The movement Chuck started in California spread like wildfire. Calvary Chapels, led by youthful charismatic pastors, began springing up across the country and around the globe, forever changing Evangelical culture.
Meanwhile, in Bend, Oregon, something different happened. I discovered the Sagan Signal, and I knew, after much prayer, that I had no choice but to resign from the ministry I loved. Not wanting to hurt anyone, I left without telling a single soul why I was resigning. So, of course, there was all kind of wild speculation.
I became like a penitent priest retreating to some remote mountaintop monastery. I studied and I prayed, but, more than anything, I became a thorn in God’s side. I wasn’t going to give up or let go until He answered two questions: Is the Sagan Signal real, and, if it is, what does it mean?
Then it came together, not in some glorious unfolding revelation, but in fits and starts. It was hard work, and I loved every minute of it. Finally, I had reached a point in my life where I was confident enough in my research to begin plotting a way to get myself, and the Sagan Signal, accepted into an accredited Evangelical seminary for investigation. Getting up in years, and after losing my wife to cancer, I entered the Master of Divinity program at Western Seminary, with the explicit understanding that whatever it was that I had discovered would be exhaustively investigated by some of Evangelicalism’s finest scholars.
A year later, after the shit hit the fan, I left the seminary and the Church, but, notably, not my faith, and began working on this website.
There might be some who think that I’m the fucking low IQ stupid one for giving up so much, when it appears that I’ve gotten so little in return. All I have ever asked for, and what I’m still asking for, is a professional, exhaustive, and, above all, transparent, investigation of the data.
I can only hope that there are some Chuck Smith-like academics around who will pick up the ball and run with it. They’ll get hit from every side, knocked down, trodden over, but they will persist, because for them, like it has always been for me, knowing the Truth, no matter the cost, is all that matters.
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John Lennox
Don: There are thousands of different religions in the world, many of them with sacred writings that adherents believe are as divinely inspired as much as Evangelicals believe the Bible is divinely inspired. But there is an empirical difference - not a single one of those other “sacred” books has anything remotely comparable to the Sagan Signal.
Having spent a significant portion of my life studying and proclaiming John’s biblical worldview, I now ask him to reciprocate by applying his intelligence and knowledge and resources to the investigation of 46 grain/wine/oil sequences in the Old Testament, to determine if they are what I claim, a divinely encrypted code – or something else. I expect that by the end of this year, 2024, John will have an answer.
The question then will be, will John Lennox declare it?
“But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” 1 Peter 3:15