Ten or so years ago, a popular screensaver had a cartoon fish programmed to swim across the computer screen. Fronds of seaweed moved in the water as the fish swam through them. Catholic Fundamentalists see programmed human animations and conclude, “What human programmers can program in two dimensions, God can program in three. Faster, too.”
As we get into the habit of looking at man-made notions of reality as cruder depictions of what God has already programmed, we see how great He is. He can not only program actual animals to swim in actual seas, but can program all the things necessary to let them maintain life.
By programming what Catholic Fundamentalists call “replicating fractals”, God programmed living things with the power to replicate themselves. His Programming brought the sun and stars into being. He programmed all the elements, along with the forces that keep them in His systems.
All His programming was done for our benefit. He programmed earth, air, fire, and water for us. Everything there is was programmed because He wanted to give us free will, and use it to choose Him over what He programmed. He gave us neighbors so we could choose to love them or not. Everything there is, is there for every one of us.
We should use what He programmed as He intended. We should understand it to help us draw closer to the Loving Programmer Who programmed everything. Simple animations on TV and in movies are a start.
