The Way God Thinks About Numbers
Introduction
I failed Algebra in college. Had to take the class twice.
I am not proud of it, but it is true. Sure, I could blame the professor for not explaining it well the first time, yet being honest, my own disinterest in math played a much bigger role.
The second time around, Dr. Meek made the material finally click, and by God’s grace and a good dose of determination, I passed the class.
Even so, math has never been my strong suit. My wife, on the other hand, is gifted in algebra, geometry, and calculus, and I deeply admire her for it. Yet recently, I have stumbled upon a truth about mathematics that has left me in awe.
Mathematics is the way God thinks about numbers.
With that astounding reality in mind, I would like to share with you what I have learned.
A Discovery
Imagine stumbling upon a hidden treasure in the world of mathematics. One that has been there all along, waiting to be discovered. In the 1980s, with the help of early computers, mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot uncovered something astonishing.
It came to be known as the Mandelbrot set. The Mandelbrot set is built from a surprisingly simple formula that generates infinitely complex, beautiful patterns called fractals. The formula is: zₙ₊₁ = zₙ² + c
Now bear with me, since I am no mathematician, but I will endeavor to explain this in the simplest of terms.
Using the simple formula zₙ₊₁ = zₙ² + c, mathematicians test millions of points on a graph (where C is a point on the graph).
They start with zero and repeatedly run the formula. For each point, one of two things eventually happens:
The numbers grow bigger and bigger until they shoot off toward infinity, or
The numbers stay bounded, and they never explode, and remain relatively small.
If the numbers stay bounded, that point belongs to the Mandelbrot set. If they escape to infinity and beyond, it does not.
In the end, the entire Mandelbrot set is defined by one simple question: “For this value of C, does the sequence stay under control or does it run away forever?”
You can do this for millions of points, color them accordingly, and something astonishing emerges. Such as a heart-shaped core with endless buds, and spirals branching off in every direction.
You can even zoom into any edge, and you will find miniature copies of the whole shape that appear inside themselves, over and over, forever. It is one of the most intricate structures in all of mathematics, and it comes from a single, simple formula. Here are some images of what fractals look like:
Fractals are not just abstract math. They can also be found in similar patterns that appear in nature. Such as snowflakes branching endlessly, Romanesco broccoli spiraling into smaller cones, and even spiral galaxies swirling within themselves.
This is absolutely incredible! Yes, fractals deserve exclamation points!!
A Christian Worldview
The man responsible for providing a Christian worldview of fractals is Dr. Jason Lisle, who calls the Mandelbrot Set a “secret code” embedded in numbers. It is like looking through a window into infinite beauty and order, which points unmistakably to an intelligent mind behind it all.
The main emphasis I want to make is that your worldview really matters. It shapes what you believe or what you try to disprove.
For those holding a secularist worldview, it leaves them unable to truly explain the “why” behind the universe and its wonders. They might point to the Big Bang for how everything came into being or the Darwinian evolution for how life developed into what we see today. Yet their worldview consistently fails to answer the deeper “why.” The secularist is unable to explain the purpose or reason behind creation and all it entails.
In stark contrast, the Christian biblical worldview is grounded upon the Bible as the sole authority. Meaning, we are able to turn to Scripture to explain our “why.”
The secularist looks at mathematics and cannot explain where it came from or why the physical universe obeys its laws.
As Dr. Lisle puts it, “Mathematics is the way God thinks about numbers.” In his lecture, he explains that numbers are abstract. You cannot touch them, taste them, or pull them from a shelf.
Numbers exist in the mind. Humans did not create them; we only discovered them. The secularist, bound by their worldview, cannot truly account for why math or numbers exist at all.
Even brilliant minds, like Nobel physicist Eugene Wigner, marvel at these things. He called the usefulness of mathematics for describing the universe and beauties like fractals, “a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve.”
Wigner was indeed a brilliant man (as Dr. Lisle notes), but his secular worldview hindered him from identifying the “why” or the Giver behind such wonders.
God Has Made Himself Known
From the biblical worldview, I can confidently explain that numbers and math were not invented by man but discovered by man, and they reveal the incomprehensible, indescribable mind of God.
Even though I do not know Dr. Wigner personally, Scripture can reveal to me how someone like him, an agnostic, thinks.
Scripture tells us the behavior of such a person. They are those who suppress the Truth. In Romans 1:18-23, we read:
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.”
Wigner was able to admit that fractals and the Mandelbrot set are a wonderful gift. Yet his sin was to refuse to affirm the Giver by suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.
It is quite devastating to have access to cutting-edge technology and supercomputers that help us see such infinite patterns, but then to deny the Giver for giving us such a gift leaves one under God’s present wrath.
God is clear: He has made Himself known. He has placed within every person the awareness of Himself, the Creator. Even something “invisible” until the 1980s became abundantly clear then, revealing complex, beautiful fractals in both mathematics and the physical realm.
You see them in snowflakes, frost on your windshield, ferns, coastlines, mountains, clouds, lightning, and spiral galaxies. These all testify to this order.
Just because we discovered the Mandelbrot set about forty-five years ago does not mean it did not exist. It has been there since eternity past in God’s mind. Now that we have uncovered it, you would think there would be an acknowledgment of the Creator.
The Definition of Gifts
It is hard to comprehend claiming a gift without mentioning the giver. Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines “gift” as “property which is voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation.” For there to be a gift, there must be a giver. To receive the gift without acknowledging the giver is, simply put, disrespectful. This is one of those basics taught to children; you ought to be thankful to those who give you gifts.
Yet, when the Giver is God, it becomes far more serious. His invisible attributes, eternal power, and divine nature are “clearly seen...through what has been made,” leaving people “without excuse.” That stings. We have been given wonderful gifts from God, and we are to turn around and give glory and thanks to Him.
The secularist worldview cannot offer a coherent “why” behind fractals; they are not just failing to explain a formula, but are also denying the Creator. So this leaves them without excuse before the Creator they know deep down exists.
With discoveries flabbergasting even the most studied scientists, there is no way to deny there is a Designer, and His name is Yahweh.
The Proper Response to Discovery
Knowing yet still denying and suppressing this truth often turns it into self-promotion. The proper response, like Dr. Lisle’s, is to glorify God for revealing His immutable, sovereign, infinite nature. Not to take credit for oneself.
For the secularist, discoveries feed self-gratification. However, do not believe the lie that science is “catching up” to the Bible. The Bible and science are not at odds. Science comes from God, and mankind is simply discovering more of it.
Taking credit, failing to glorify and thank Him, leads only to foolishness: “they became futile in their thoughts.”
A comforting truth is that Yahweh governs all things, including numbers, mathematics, and science. Denying this darkens the heart. As Scripture says, “their foolish heart was darkened.” Also, the prophet Jeremiah warns, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can know it” (Jer. 17:9)?
Conclusion
We are all born sinners — radically depraved. We are born as those who persist in denial, which continually makes our hearts further black and ignorant. However, God can transform the darkest of hearts and make them light.
The God of the Bible is not only the Designer of such wonders as mentioned above, but He is also the gracious Transformer of hearts.
The prophet Ezekiel, prophecying for Yahweh, said, “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” This is what the God of the Bible is able to do.
Only a heart of flesh, softened by the Holy Spirit, can rightly see the Mandelbrot set not merely as math, but as a window into the infinite mind of God.
Your worldview matters. It matters a whole lot. It determines whether you will continue to suppress the truth clearly displayed in God’s creation and His Word to your own peril, or whether you will embrace the Giver behind every good and perfect gift, including the astonishing order and beauty of mathematics.
It is breathtaking how even in something such as fractals, God has been gracious enough to allow us to discover that mathematics is simply the way He thinks about numbers.
Those interested in continuing to explore a distinctly Christian approach to science, I encourage you to visit Dr. Jason Lisle’s website at the Biblical Science Institute.
