Nature of Reality
When considering the creation of the world around us, it is natural to look backwards and examine the evidence of how it appears to have been made. From this perspective, scientific evidence suggests a world that developed over billions of years through gradual processes such as evolution. However, when the same question is approached from the perspective of a Creator who is part of an advanced civilization—and that God was once like man—it may make more sense to look forward rather than backward. By considering how worlds could be created in the future, we gain a different way of thinking about how our own world might have been made.
Looking at our own technological trajectory, we can already see rapid advances in our ability to recreate aspects of the world around us with increasing realism. Simulated environments are now used by professionals to train, practise, and gain experience in safe and controlled conditions before acting in the real world. Advances in virtual reality allow people not just to observe these environments, but to experience them in ways that feel increasingly true to life.
Of course, we do not know whether the world around us—as created by a divine or advanced Creator—is material, virtual, or something else entirely. Yet it is worth noting that, from our perspective as inhabitants, there may be little functional difference. A tree that is materially constructed and a tree that is virtually constructed but behaves in exactly the same way would be indistinguishable in practice. What matters most is not the underlying method of creation, but how reality functions for those within it.
Divine Command
The scriptures teach that Jesus had perfect command over the elements. He multiplied loaves and fishes, turned water into wine, and exercised control over nature in ways that appear instantaneous. These accounts suggest that, whatever the nature of reality, it is fully subject to his will and can be reshaped or created rapidly if He chooses.
If Jesus could create food and drink instantly, it is not a large step to imagine that He could also create valleys, hills, rivers, and even an entire world in a similar manner. This opens up the possibility that the creation of the earth may have occurred very quickly, perhaps even in a way consistent with a plain reading of scripture that describes the heavens and the earth being created in a matter of days—without requiring us to deny the appearance of great age that the world now presents.