In the Beginning was Information

Theorem 20: The teleological aspect of information is the mostimportant level, since it comprises the intentions of the sender.The sum total of the four lower levels is that they are only ameans for attaining the purpose (apobetics).Note: The teleological aspect may often overlap and coincide withthe pragmatic aspect to a large extent, but it is theoretically alwayspossible to distinguish the two.Theorem 21: The five aspects of information (statistics, syntax,semantics, pragmatics, and apobetics) are valid for both thesender and the recipient. The five levels are involved in a continuousinterplay between the two.Theorem 22: The separate aspects of information are interlinkedin such a way that every lower level is a necessary prerequisitefor the realisation of the next one above it.Whenever the teleological aspect is minimised or deliberatelyignored, we should be aware of the fact that Theorem 19 is violated.Evolutionary doctrine deliberately denies any purposefulnessthat might be apparent. In the words of G. G. Simpson, an Americanzoologist: “Man is the result of a materialistic process having78Ghanaian professor who visited Braunschweig to complete his doctorate inarchitecture told me about a cemetery near Accra. The crosses planted on thegraves of the first Christian missionaries are still there, and it is clear from theinscribed dates that they succumbed from tropical diseases within a few daysafter their arrival. Superficially it could be said that the efforts of those peoplewere in vain. God ended their lives before they had a chance to proclaim onesentence of the Gospel and there were no visible results. But this Ghanaianfriend said that he had been moved by the silent witnessing of those crosses totake a decisive step in faith. It became clear to him that God must have blessedthose men with so much love that they went out without regard to their ownsafety to tell others of this love. It is clear that God’s way is often different fromour expectations. What might appear futile in our time stream, is fruitful andpermanent in God’s Kairos. The purpose of the missionaries was to winAfricans for Christ, and after a long time somebody did fulfil this purpose.Now he witnesses for the Gospel to many students in his mother tongue. Intheir hour of death those missionaries could not have had an inkling that theirpurpose would eventually be realised.