Life is like a Smartphone

by Mike Inger Helmke

Some people can't remember even their own phone number. I can still remember our first telephone number from fifty years ago, I also know my own number, but if I had to call my girlfriend from a public phone I couldn't. I simply don't know anybody's phone number anymore because I just touch their names on the screen without paying attention to their number.

I still have my old address books safely stored somewhere in my office, one is already getting moldy. But I haven't looked at them for years, except for very rare occasions when I needed the number of somebody I hadn't called since when I still lived somewhere else a long time ago.

I don't worry about losing my phone or having it stolen, because every now and then my phone company updates my address book. I stopped writing down people's numbers a long time ago, because even if my phone dies the company will replace all information into my new chip or phone and my address book will be exactly the same.

The only thing in my Smartphone that seems to die quite often is the battery, but just like us humans it only needs another feeding to keep running again. What has died more often are my computers. And worst of all, many of my beloved files went to the grave together with them. The hard disk gave up the ghost and my memory was gone forever.

I guess everybody who has gone through this experience has started to make regular back-ups. First they were on CD's, then on pen drives, and now many of my stories are somewhere in the so-called "cloud", which is actually some gigantic computer somewhere far far away.

People who die and come back often tell how they could see their lives in just one second. Like fast forwarding a movie, we all know how that works. Well, if my phone's memory can be copied and movies can, who says there can't be a copy of my life's memories somewhere in some cloud far far away? Just because my brain is dead doesn't mean my memory disappeared, no more than my phone numbers are gone after my Smartphone dies. They're just somewhere else far far away.

Modern car factories have plenty of robots doing the dirty work. They are programmed to weld frames, paint doors and do a lot of other stuff. Other robots assemble chips and Smartphones. But without a program the robot would be just a dead piece of metal and plastic, it's all those bits and bytes who make him work happily all day long and all of the night too. Likewise the code in our DNA tells our bodies how to digest food to build new parts and repair themselves all day long and all of the night.

So if those robots have their programs safely stored in far far away, who says the program in my DNA can't exist in some other place too? Especially since there seem to be so many almost identical models running around. I admit that there are certain individual differences, each of us is unique. Just like Smartphones, they seem to be identical on the outside, but once you take a closer look you notice that inside they aren't. First of all each has its own serial number, just like we each have our own name, our personal identity card number or tax number.

Besides our personal data, there are all those other memories like the pictures we took and the music we have downloaded. Just like each of us, we all have our own memories of our own lives. All those things we saw and did, all those experiences, like short little clips and long movies during the many days of our lives. Moments that we treasure and incidents we prefer to forget.

The operating system of my computer or my Smartphone has its own serial number, but it is actually just one in a million copies of the original. Likewise we humans have the same operating system in our DNA since the day we were conceived. Identical codes that run our bodies, just that instead of different serial numbers we have different names.

The outward differences are actually minimal in comparison to what we have in common. Like there are different brands of phones there are different basic types of humans. Still, each is filled with a totally different individual memory.

How many of us have wished that instead of learning we could just copy the answers into our brains when we were studying for our exams! Like on our computers where we just "copy" something and then "paste" it somewhere else. Copying files into a different memory has actually become a day to day experience for most of us.

So if life is actually like a Smartphone, why worry about death when all the information is safely stored somewhere far far away? Jesus said that "even our very hairs are numbered". What did he mean by that? That each of our hairs has a number embedded in its DNA? Or that those numbers are stored somewhere far far away? If life is like a Smartphone both options are plausible.

If somewhere far far away there's a back-up of the information and it can tell the robot how to build a car or a Smartphone, then of course the information needed to build us humans can also be safely stored somewhere.

The company can just build another identical phone, give it the same serial number and copy the back-up files into the device, all those contacts and pictures and videos. Once the same data is in the new phone it will be almost one hundred percent identical, except for the scratches on the screen...

If Smartphones can be built again and memory retrieved, why can't we also get a new body with the same codes in the DNA and then have exactly the same memories and features put into it? We'll have a new body with the same mind inside, just like the old one. Minus the scratches and wrinkles of course...

When you call your phone company the girl who answers seems to be right next to our ear, so you never realize how distant far far away really is. Your files might be safe in a cloud far far away, but you actually just drag and drop them into an icon right in front of you on our screen. You don't think about all those bytes quickly rushing along the information highway thousands of miles from Timbuktu to Silicon Valley.

What matters is that all your files will live on forever on some gigantic server in the some big building in the US, together with all the details the NSA collected about us. All our calls and emails are safely stored. Who cares where far far away really is? What really matters is that everything is "at hand" and instantly available.

When I was a kid mice still had heads and tails and were always running away instead of resting on their mouse pad. Icons were pictures of saints painted on wood. One of my favorites was a picture from a monastery in the peninsula of Sinai, the oldest picture of Jesus. His face is similar to the ones that are now popular based on the shroud of Turin.

Today there's a mouse on every desk, icons are everywhere on our screens and our data is safely stored somewhere. Finally we can comprehend what Jesus meant when he said that our hairs are all numbered and that not a sparrows falls to the ground without his father knowing. He said that all that information was stored somewhere far far away.

That "big brother" in the digital cloud is very similar to what Jesus called his "father in heaven", he even called him "daddy". He was obviously on very personal terms with that father. He didn't show fear or worry like some of us do when they speak of some impersonal human surveillance organization.

Most of all, he said that he had come to bring us good news. The good news was that the realm of far far away was now "at hand". That meant that even though it is actually far far away, you could now touch it with your fingers, like tap "heaven".

Jesus didn't give complicated explanations, but some things he said sounded a bit strange, like "I am the way". Today we can understand what that meant. It is like an icon on our screen. We tap on the "cloud" icon and know that our data is being sent to far far away. We do not literally store things in the icon itself, that information travels thousands of miles along the data highway.

So, if life is like a Smartphone and Jesus is the icon where we can get saved in far far away, then in makes perfect sense when he said that all we had to do was receive him, like installing him in our hearts.

When you download a program, finally a question appears and you have to respond if you want to install program: Yes/No? Then you simply click or tap the "yes" button and have the program installed.

You don't open our phone and take it apart and connect the parts of the program, you don't have to know a thing about technology! You just tap "yes" and something that had been far far away until that very moment enters into your Smartphone right before your eyes at that very moment.  

I tried learning Chinese and programming, but I just wouldn't get it. I can say hello and thank you in Chinese and I know how to use a mouse and click "yes" or "no" and a few other things on the computer, that is all. I tap on my girlfriend's name on the Smartphone and then tap "call".

I do not need to know much more, I get along fine. Thus I have a lot in common with the people who met Jesus but didn't understand all the technological details of far far away. They just didn't want neither their data nor their soul to die and disappear.

I installed most of programs because somebody recommended it. I never had a clue how they were created. I just wanted them because I saw how they worked for others. So I bought or downloaded them and then simply touched "install/yes" and I could start using them.

Now I have my stuff safely stored far far away in the cloud. I use some smart little program to send a message to my kids on the other side of the world. In an instant, they can read what I wrote and answer me. 

How it works? I don't care how, I just know that it works.

That Jesus program is the same, I can't really explain it exactly, but I tried it and know it works great. I can wholeheartedly recommend it to you as the greatest program on Earth. It has millions of five star evaluations from those who tried it.

It is for free and always will be, because none of us can pay for something that was made in heaven. It is only a fingertip away from you. The choice is something like this: "Do you want Jesus to come into your heart?" Now is the moment for you to say: "Yes, I do. Come in".

Information in mankind's intestines measures 60 thousand times the length of the universe!

Figure it out yourself: The information for one microbe written on paper would take a distance about from here to the moon

Distance to the moon: 380 000 km
Number of microbes in the body: 100 trillion
Information for 100 trillion microbes written on paper:
100 trillion x 380 000 km = 380 000 light years

The information in the DNA of all the microbes of just one person written on paper would take a 380 thousand light years long paper.

World population: about 7 billion people
7 billion x 380 000 light years = 2 700 000 billion light years
Total information in mankind’s intestines written on paper: 2 700 000 billion light years

Size of the universe: 45 billion light years
Length of the information divided by the length of the universe:
2 700 000 billion km : 45 billion km = 60 000

Result: If the information in the intestines of mankind were written on paper you would need a paper about 60 000 times the length of the universe.

Even if these numbers are an estimate, they are still very impressive. Do you really believe that such a size of information can have happened by chance, or might there be some intelligent design? Remember, these are just the simplest creatures! Panda Bears and Human Beings have thousands of trillions times more information stored in their genes…

The bad news about evolution

By FG Helmke

We were taught that life has been evolving for millions of years, so we are tempted to think it will keep on evolving for an endless period of time. But, reality is just the opposite. We thought a species would evolve and adapt by improving, like growing wings (which would mean adding new information into its genes). What actually happens is that the species uses options stored in its genes to change. There is no new information being developed, but information that is already in its genes is used to modify the creature. Microevolution leads to specialized kinds of plants and animals, like the (micro)evolution of the original dog into a Yorkshire Terrier. Very beautiful indeed, but the real bad news is that the Yorkshire Terrier has lost important elements of information, he can never evolve back into a big dog. Nor can you breed a Dane into a Yorkshire Terrier. Both lost much of the original pool of information that included all the possibilities that were present in the ancestor dog. 
The bitter truth is that during the process of microevolution information didn’t get added, but to the contrary, it got lost. The worst part about it is that both dogs reached the end of their evolution. That’s simply how far dogs could evolve. They can’t be bigger than Danes, nor smaller than Chihuahuas. There are no more possibilities left in the information stored. Since we can’t write information that enables life, once this information is lost, it is gone forever. So in terms of information our world is actually getting poorer day by day, information for life gets lost, not added. 
There is no real evolution in the sense of Darwin’s theory. Once beings reach the limits of their possible specialization nothing new can come out of them, because there is simply no information left in them to develop them into something “better”.  So the idea that life will keep on developing and improving is totally unrealistic. We may breed bigger tomatoes and sweeter sugar cane, but there is a limit. No pumpkin sized tomatoes in our green houses. No sugar cane the size of a red wood tree. 
Reality is that no new species will develop, and on top of it many of the ones that do exist are becoming extinct or getting so specialized that there is no new development possible.

This situation can be compared to custom installing certain programs. If you don’t install certain features that you don’t need, and throw away the original program, you won’t ever been able to install them, because they are simply gone.  
The whole idea of looking at evolution as an eternal and endless process is very unrealistic. Many things evolve, but once they reach their limit they are thrown out. I remember listening to music on fancy high-end hi-tech Hi-fi disc players that hardly resembled Thomas Edison’s invention anymore, except for having a needle running through a groove on the disc. They produced wonderful music. People loved them, they reproduced music in fascinating quality. Everybody used them. Yet they reached their limit. They developed as far as they could and then dissappeared. We used to watch movies on video cassette tapes. VCRs became better and better. DVDs replaced them. Now when I found out it is time to get a blue ray player to watch the new movies. Or subscribe to cable TV. But Edison’s phonograph won’t ever evolve into a movie player. That’s reality. Certain species simply reach their limit in specializing and improving. Many kinds of dogs for example suffer from degeneration and have little hope of surviving more than a few hundred years. Instead of evolving nature is getting poorer every day.

Thank God there is a beautiful variety available in creation, and nothing ever becomes old fashioned. Orchids never lose their beauty. Starfish don’t become outdated. The loyalty of a dog can’t be replaced by a new super cat. Today’s sunset fascinates today just as it did 3000 years ago.

We can chose to either take good care of this world or destroy all of this. Unlike in computer games and evolutionists’ wishful thinking there is no second chance. Life is like a chain. New life comes only from an old link, once you cut the chain there is no way back. That’s a law of biology. It’s like copying a DVD. You may find a few new features on it that you haven’t seen yet, but that DVD won’t develop into a new movie. Only the creators can produce another film like that. That’s life, that’s creation. 
So life on Earth doesn’t necessarily go on and on endlessly for another billion years. Things have an end. The only time we have is now. We can’t take the future of the world for granted. It depends on the decisions we make today.

The program that makes life (and industry) possible - photosynthesis

Do you want to see a program that says, “dirt, assemble yourself to a new laptop, mine just broke down”?  Look outside. Don’t dream about the future, look outside. Can you see a green leaf?

Almost all plants have tiny little green cells that perform an amazing chemical process: a tiny nano-factory absorbs CO2 molecules from the air. At the same time water molecules travel upwards, apparently defying the laws of gravity, are then split by an amazing process, and by adding the hydrogen of the water molecules the program converts the CO2 molecules in an astonishingly effective way into a pretty complicated new substance, a carbohydrate, glucose. Like sugar as found in sugar cane for example. Six molecules of water plus six molecules of carbon dioxide produce one molecule of sugar plus six molecules of oxygen. The leftover oxygen is released into the atmosphere to maintain the atmospheric balance. Sounds easy, but just look it up and try to understand it, ha!

All plants live from this substance in their sap. This incredible smart program even uses solar energy to produce what is the basis for life on Earth: carbohydrates. Photosynthesis is the source of the carbon in all the organic compounds within organisms' bodies. Green.exe controls the production of the source of all organic matter.

A microscopic factory that converts fizzy water into sugar! All plants are build with carbohydrates, life on Earth as well as in the sea is based on it. Here is where the food chain begins. Cows turn grass into milk and steak, bugs eat it and chickens turn the bugs into eggs and so on. Microscopic animals in the sea, zooplankton, eat microscopic plants in the sea, phytoplankton, and tiny fish eat the tiny animals and the big fish eat the small fish and we buy tuna in the supermarket. Basically all animals live directly or indirectly from plants, so do we. Whether we eat lettuce or hamburgers, at the other end of the food chain was something made based on photosynthesis.

But not only that. Time, pressure and temperature turn vegetation into coal and oil, and modern life runs on these results of photosynthesis. Without photosynthesis we’d have no cars, no factories, no furniture, almost no electricity. Photosynthesis is the basic program that enables life: embedded in a tiny green cell one of the most amazing programs ever written produces the food and fuel that makes life on Earth possible.

The actual process of photosynthesis is of course much more complex than that, it involves lots of highly complex chemicals that are activated by certain wavelengths of the sun’s rays. If you look up photosynthesis on the internet you will find out that this most basic element of nature that makes the most “primitive” plants tick is nothing but an incredibly sophisticated piece of high tech art. You will see that it takes much more than just intelligence to write it. Just to build that machine you have to be quite an engineer. But the much more amazing thing is its program. A program that tells this machinery to kind of put itself together from the raw material found in dirt.  In simple words it says: “Dirt and water, assemble a machine that produces glucose!” This was considered magic until recently. Nowadays everybody knows programs like Skype that say: “Face of grandmother, appear on my computer screen and let me hear her talk to me!” Yet I want to see a program that says: “Dirt, assemble yourself to a new laptop, mine just broke down!”  

What an amazing program! By the way, its color green seems to be the trademark of its designer. Wherever you see life, you see green, to remind you of the One who wrote the most wonderful program ever imagined: Life. Enjoy it. Make the most out of it. In case you get stuck, just press the help button. He’ll show you what to do.

By FG Helmke

Words, Information and the Good Old Designer

Words
What's a word? Isn't it a series of letters, sounds or signs expressing an information? Like "dog". Three letters, lots of information.

Messages and Instructions
You can join words to give more complex information, you can use words to give messages like: "Beware of the dog! " and instructions like: " Feed the dog!"

Programs

A series of instructions can become a program: "Feed the dog every day after breakfast. If there is only little food left go to the supermarket and buy more."

Computer programs are written that way. The program designer writes a sequence of words and letters to "tell" the computer what to do. "Load windows, log into facebook, msn and Skype"... The actual programs themselves are extremely complex and sometimes take years to write. Windows consists of billions of bits of information.

Nature

Life runs by programs written on DNA. The programs tells the cells how to grow, multiply, diagnose themselves, how to repair and defend themselves. They tell the cells how to absorb and metabolize nutrients. Running a simple little cell is as complicated as running a big city. Complex living creatures consist of billions of cells working together by a combination of extremelly complex programs. Comparing these incredibly sophisticated programs that run living creatures like elephants or humans with "simple" programs like Windows or SAP -which controls big factories and nuclear power plants- is like comparing an airliner with a toy airplane. 

(By the way, the DNA is not the program, just like a CD is not a program. The program is written on the DNA or the CD.)

The design is the proof of a designer

Every program, design, creation or information logically contains the message that somebody designed it. "Beware of the dog" might be a trick to keep you out, but obviously somebody wrote it, there can be no doubt. Cheap plastic toys come probably from a certain country, while dresses and perfumes ending in -i probably come from Italy. When a branch fell on your car you know it was most likely the wind, if you see a broken window and your computer and TV missing you know there must have been as burgler in your house. Logical. If you see a sign or hear or read a word you perceive automatically that somebody said it or wrote it. Information is always created, information can't happen by chance. 

Conclusion

Live on earth has a designer. 

More on the designer
He is mostly known as the "Good Old Designer", or just "GOD".

The manual
In his manual the Good Old Designer says that "in the beginning was the word", or "the information". And: "Everything that was made was made by it."
New Testament, book of John, chapter one.   

 
 

Computerviruses and Sin

A virus is a program that harms. Remember our doggie program: "if there's little food left go and buy some more". Now we add a new harmful information: "In case you can't pay go home, get the gun and assault a gas station. Then repeat step 1".

Viruses mess up programs. Many times to a point that they don't function anymore. They can leave your computer totally useless. Many times the only solution is to reformat your computer and reinstall the operating system.

Obviously our lives get further and further away from the original program which made us happy children, and we become more and more complicated, lost and not living the way we were designed. For example a warlord in Nigeria who killed 20,000 people. Or just an average person who lives for nothing else but for his work and spending the money he earns.

The Good Old Designer has provided a way to reformat our lives, by sending the original program in a way we can easily receive it and become reformatted. He wrote that he sent Jesus into the world and that whosoever reveives him can become a child of God again (John 1:12). This warlord that I have mentioned before did this. He changed and became the person he was intended to be, a loving and caring man, now going around apologizing and helping others to get reformatted. Asking Jesus to come into our hearts is just like putting the DVD with the original operating system into your computer and reinstalling it. 
The best thing about this is that like in a computergame we get a new life, greatly updated, that never ends. Since Jesus destroyed the virus we won't have these kinds of problems in our next life anymore.