In the Beginning was Information

12 Life Requires a Source of InformationThe common factor present in all living organisms, from bacteriato man, is the information contained in all their cells. It has beendiscovered that nowhere else can a higher statistical packing densityof information (see Appendix A1.2.3) be found. The informationpresent in living systems falls in the category of “operational information”as discussed in Chapter 7. This information is exactlytuned in to the infinitude of life processes and situations, and itsorigin can be ascribed to creative constructional information(Chapter 7). The different information aspects are depicted in Figure26 where the statistical level has been omitted for the sake ofsimplicity. This diagram is of a general nature and can therefore beapplied to any piece of information (see Chapter 5 for domain ofdefinition); it is in every case under consideration only necessaryto identify the sender, the recipient, and the specifics of the variouslevels, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and apobetics. The propertiescharacteristic of life are indicated next to each level in Figure26. In the case of the recipient these levels can in principle beinvestigated scientifically, although we have to admit that our presentknowledge only scratches the surface.According to the information laws every piece of informationrequires a sender. The demarcated region in Figure 26 is in principlenot accessible for scientific research, namely the Person of theSender. Since the Sender cannot be investigated by human means,many people erroneously conclude that He does not exist, andthus they contravene the information theorems. The requirementthat there must be a personal sender exercising his own free will,cannot be relinquished. This Sender, the Creator, has revealedHimself so that we do have information about Him. He, Jesus, wasin the world and the world was made through Him (John 1:10).Everything in the entire universe without exception was createdby Him, as is stated in the first verses of John’s Gospel and inColossians 1:16: “For by Him all things were created: things inheaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones orpowers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him andfor Him.”135