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God, Modern Physics, & Dark Energy: An Analogy

God, Modern Physics, & Dark Energy: An Analogy

Last updated on: June 13, 2026 at 1:11 pm by Dave Armstrong

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God, Modern Physics, & Dark Energy: An Analogy 2026-06-13T13:11:21-04:00 Dave Armstrong

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This is the initial transcript for the video, What is God Made of? (Catholic Bible Highlights, with Kenny Burchard, 4-10-26).

*****

Does modern science have anything to say about the existence of God, Whom Christians believe to be an eternal spirit? Is the idea of a spirit itself an absurd, unverifiable idea? Science by definition is the study of the laws of physical matter, so in that sense it can’t directly speak to the question of God, and atheists seize upon that to declare that science disproves God. On the other hand, new trends and discoveries now taking place on the cutting edge of physics and cosmology have made it possible to make strong analogies to God, based on what we now know about the universe and matter and, yes, even “spirit.”.

Atheist and critic of theism Bob Seidensticker ran the influential Cross Examined blog, which is no longer active. In its heyday it was a clearinghouse for hundreds of anti-Bible and anti-Christianity arguments. I replied to him in writing 85 times, and all were ignored. One of his articles, called, “Defending 10 Atheist Arguments (4 of 5)”, made the following provocative statements, that will serve as a starting-point for our analysis. St. Thomas Aquinas loved to state opposing views first, and then analyze and refute them. That’s what we’re doing, too. Let’s take a look at what our atheist friend believes:

What is God made of?

There is no evidence that spiritual energy exists, so we can conclude that psychics, ghosts, and gods are non-existent. Otherwise, God has nothing to be made of. You can’t just magic something into existence with a definition. . . .

God is not made of anything, least of all spiritual energy, but he’s made of spirit? Or he is spirit? Or something? . . . This is the problem with just handwaving stuff into existence. Your embarrassing ad hoc arguments will mean you’ll no longer be able to sit at the adult table.

So God is not made of matter or (heaven forbid!) spiritual energy . . . but he’s made of something, right? . . . Don’t play Simon Says, just tell us. And whatever you say God is made of, show us that it exists.

It’s our atheist critics who are constantly informing us Christians that atheism itself is, alas, not a formulated worldview, but only the absence of belief in God. I wish I had a dime for every time I’ve heard that. Yet lo and behold, now we witness the spectacle of an atheist complaining that we can’t define spirit in a way other than what it is not (matter). It’s one thing for atheists to challenge theists to produce arguments in favor of the existence of God. We’ve produced dozens, but of course none are ever good enough for hard-core atheists. It’s quite another thing to argue that an immaterial or spirit being (the very category) is absurd.

Bob’s argument has the following logical structure:

Spiritual energy is nonexistent.

God supposedly consists of such spiritual energy.

Therefore, God cannot exist, since he is said to consist of a thing that itself doesn’t exist.

Whether spirit and immaterial beings exist is a key premise that lies behind the classic theistic understanding of God. Many atheists merely assume that certain things aren’t true, and indeed, to hear them tell it, can’t possibly be true. Most atheists are philosophical materialists: that is, the view that everything can be reduced to matter and physical processes, and that nothing exists beyond that.

A few atheists are, however, dualists, and believe that something exists that can’t be reduced to observable matter. I always cite the brilliant philosopher David Chalmers, who has four books with Oxford University Press and one with MIT, as one prominent example. His Wikipedia page notes that “he believes mental states are ontologically distinct from and not reducible to physical systems.”

Bob had a field day mocking Christians for believing that God is a spirit or immaterial; not a physical thing (with atoms, etc.). Once again, as always in his colorful and entertaining polemics, theists are made out to be anti-scientific ignoramuses and dumbbells. The argument that follows is one of analogy: arguing for one thing based on its profound similarity to another, with basically the same epistemological basis (i.e., similar reasons for why it’s believed).

Before we get to that, let’s take a brief look at how the Bible describes God and some of His extraordinary qualities in relation to the universe that He created. Here’s what it tells us:

Nehemiah 9:6 (RSV) . . . “Thou art the LORD, thou alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and thou preservest all of them; . . .

Psalm 139:7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

Isaiah 42:5 Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it:

Jeremiah 23:24 . . . Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD.

Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. . . .

2 Corinthians 3:17 . . . the Lord is the Spirit . . .

Ephesians 4:6 one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Colossians 1:17 He [Jesus] is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Hebrews 1:3 . . . upholding the universe by his [Jesus’] word of power. . . .

Hebrews 2:10 . . . he, for whom and by whom all things exist . . .

With these passages in mind; ones that not only refer to God as the creator of the universe, but also its preserver and upholder, let’s now take a look at some amazing, mind-boggling discoveries of science regarding the universe. Physicists and astronomers are currently quite excited about new phenomena called dark energy and dark matter. These ideas or concepts have only made their appearance over the last 30 years or so. The term dark energy was coined by cosmologist Michael Turner in 1998. It’s now widely accepted. An article on the NASA website, entitled “Dark Energy” provides a basic definition.

What exactly is dark energy? The short answer is: We don’t know. But we do know that it exists, it’s making the universe expand at an accelerating rate, and approximately 68.3 to 70% of the universe is dark energy. . . .

Right now, dark energy is just the name that astronomers gave to the mysterious “something” that is causing the universe to expand at an accelerated rate. Dark energy has been described by some as having the effect of a negative pressure that is pushing space outward. However, we don’t know if dark energy has the effect of any type of force at all. There are many ideas floating around about what dark energy could possibly be.

The article goes on to list four theories that scientists propose to try to explain it, but has no conclusion other than “Dark energy is one of the great mysteries of the universe.” An earlier version of the same article that I linked to four years ago, elaborated, referring also to another mysterious entity: dark matter:

It turns out that roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest – everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter – adds up to less than 5% of the universe. . . . One explanation for dark energy is that it is a property of space. Albert Einstein was the first person to realize that empty space is not nothing. Space has amazing properties, many of which are just beginning to be understood. . . . one version of Einstein’s gravity theory, the version that contains a cosmological constant, makes a second prediction: “empty space” can possess its own energy.

NASA’s article, “The Universe’s Building Blocks” asserts regarding dark matter:

Like ordinary matter, dark matter takes up space and holds mass. . . . While scientists have measured that dark matter makes up about 27% of the cosmos, they’re not sure what it is. Theories include several kinds of as-yet unidentified types of particles that rarely interact with normal matter. . . . Scientists today think dark matter exists in a vast, web-like structure that winds through the whole universe – a gravitational scaffold that attracts most of the cosmos’ normal matter. They’ve determined that dark matter isn’t composed of known particles of matter because the universe would look very different if it were. The search for what makes up dark matter continues.

If these overviews from NASA are true, it turns out that science in all its glory (arguably, atheism’s quasi-religion) has been studying a mere 3 to 5% of all that exists in the universe. 68-70% (i.e., dark energy) is something other (spirit?) than what we have known up till now as “matter”: with protons and neutrons, etc. Another 27% consists of the equally mysterious dark matter, which has mass but no “known particles of matter.” The last 3 to 5% of the universe is made up of matter as science has understood it up to this time. Obviously, non-material entities or whatever we call them, have been a far more important aspect of the universe than we (least of all materialist atheists) had ever imagined.

Meanwhile, Christians and other theists are mocked and derided and considered simpletons simply because we have believed all along that God isn’t material, either, but rather, is an eternal and omnipresent spirit, Who created the world. What’s the difference? I see very little. We’re told that dark energy and dark matter are very mysterious entities that make up 95% of the universe. The Bible teaches that God is mysteriously present in 100% of it, and preserves and upholds all of it.

If scientists can manage to believe in things they can’t prove and know next to nothing about (only about what the unknown thing theoretically causes), then why can’t theists and Christians believe in an extraordinary spirit or “energy” that doesn’t have material characteristics? We’ve never made the claim that everything we believed in could and must be proven scientifically, or empirically. Theology is partly derived from philosophy: itself a study of mostly non-material concepts. And God reveals Himself through His inspired Word, the Bible.

Conclusion? It looks like “spirit” – and a very pervasive one at that — is quite possible, according to the latest advances of science. Materialism, the philosophy that has dominated atheism since time immemorial, is just about dead as a doornail. The Bible and Jews and Christians have asserted this for over 4200 years. Now science is catching up. Better late than never!

Why then are Bob Seidensticker and almost all of his millions of fellow atheists prattling on as if good old-fashioned matter — before we get to dark matter and dark energy — is all there is? Scientists believe – at least at this point in time — that indeed it’s only 3-5% of all that exists in the universe. Bob needs to get up to speed and catch up with the latest scientific advances before further embarrassing himself and his fellow atheists. Who’s against science? Christians have nothing to fear from it at all. It’s always been harmonious with our views, and today it is more than ever.

*****

My Related Books (Science- and Atheism-Related)

The Word Set in Stone: How Archaeology, Science, and History Back Up the Bible (Catholic Answers Press: March 15, 2023, 271 pages)

The Word Set in Stone: “Volume Two”: More Evidence of Archaeology, Science, and History Backing Up the Bible (free online book with 163 sections and possible future additions) [September 2024 and ongoing]

Science and Christianity: Close Partners or Mortal Enemies? (Oct. 2010, 301 pages)

Christian Worldview vs. Postmodernism (Sep. 2002, 218 pages)

Inspired!: 198 Supposed Biblical Contradictions Resolved (free online book, June 2023)

My Related Article

Seidensticker Folly #71: “Magic” Spirits & 68% Dark Energy (2-2-21)

Other Cited Articles

“Dark Energy” (NASA)

“The Universe’s Building Blocks” (NASA)

My Related Web Pages

Atheism, Agnosticism, & Secularism [see especially section “XXXIII. Bob Seidensticker”]

Philosophy, Science & Christianity

***

Summary: Does modern science actually point toward God? Ultra-mysterious dark energy and dark matter make up roughly 95% of the universe. Sure sounds a lot like a pervasive spirit.

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