On his very first visit to Westworld William (Jimmi Simpson) asks the host who greets him: “So, how does this work?  Is there an orientation?”^[1]

Female Host:  No orientation.  No guidebook.  Figuring out how it works is half the fun.  All you do is make choices…

I suppose anyone can live this way, many do.  But in the real world we have a guidebook called the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16, 17 NET).

Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness [Table], that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.

This guidebook offers a path to eternal life: Now this is eternal life, Jesus prayed, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.^[2]  I recommend Jesus’ understanding of eternal life over anything else one might imagine.  It focuses one’s attention on knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ.  But don’t worry, there are still many choices to make, much fun to be had knowing the mind of our Creator:

The Man in Black (Ed Harris), a guest at Westworld, contrasted it to the real world in conversation with an android host named Lawrence (Clifton Collins Jr.):^[3]

That’s what I love about this place.  All the secrets, all the little things I never noticed, even after all these years.  You know why this beats the real world, Lawrence?  Real world’s just chaos.  It’s an accident.  But in here, every detail adds up to something.

Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) programmed Westworld with all these details in mind:^[4]

The guests don’t return for the obvious things we do, the garish things.  They come back because of the subtleties, the details.

Ford, an evolutionist, shares the Man in Black’s worldview to a certain extent, as he explained to his assistant Bernard (Jeffrey Wright):^[5]

Ford: “Mistakes” is the word you’re too embarrassed to use.  You ought not to be.  You’re a product of a trillion of them.  Evolution forged the entirety of sentient life on this planet using only one tool: The Mistake.

Bernard: I flattered myself we were taking a more disciplined approach here.  I suppose self-delusion is a gift of natural selection as well.

Ford: Indeed it is.  But, of course, we’ve managed to slip evolution’s leash now, haven’t we?  We can cure any disease, keep even the weak of us alive, and… You know, one fine day, perhaps, we shall even resurrect the dead.  Call forth Lazarus from his cave.  Do you know what that means?  It means that we’re done.  That this is as good as we’re going to get.

Ford thinks of the real world as an endless series of mistakes.  The Man in Black thinks it is meaningless chaos, an accident.  Both deprive themselves of the knowledge of God revealed in the Bible.

I’ll paraphrase the beginning of the Bible with knowledge that can be perceived throughout by anyone who pays attention, but isn’t stated explicitly^[6] until nearer the end (Genesis 1:1-2:3 ESV).

In the beginning, Love created the heavens and the earth [Table].  The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of Love was hovering over the face of the waters [Table].  And Love said, “Let there be light,” and there was light [Table].  And Love saw that the light was good.  And Love separated the light from the darkness [Table].  Love called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.  And there was evening and there was morning, the first day [Table].

And Love said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters” [Table].  And Love made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse.  And it was so [Table].  And Love called the expanse Heaven.  And there was evening and there was morning, the second day [Table].

And Love said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.”  And it was so [Table].  Love called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas.  And Love saw that it was good [Table].

And Love said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.”  And it was so [Table].  The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind.  And Love saw that it was good [Table].  And there was evening and there was morning, the third day [Table].

And Love said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.  And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years [Table], and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.”  And it was so [Table].  And Love made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars [Table].  And Love set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth [Table], to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.  And Love saw that it was good [Table].  And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day [Table].

And Love said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens” [Table].  So Love created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.  And Love saw that it was good [Table].  And Love blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth” [Table].  And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day [Table].

And Love said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.”  And it was so [Table].  And Love made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind.  And Love saw that it was good [Table].

Then Love said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” [Table].

So Love created man in his own image, in the image of Love he created him; male and female he created them [Table].

And Love blessed them.  And Love said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” [Table].  And Love said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.  You shall have them for food.  And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.”  And it was so.  And Love saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day [Table].

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them [Table].  And on the seventh day Love finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done [Table].  So Love blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it Love rested from all his work that he had done in creation [Table].

Though Bernard spoke of self-delusion as a gift of natural selection, it was just a manner of speaking.   Natural selection has neither the power nor authority, neither mind nor inclination to bestow gifts on anyone.  It is simply a euphemism for death.

The game is played something like this:

If self-delusion can be shown to help evolutionists overcome their anxiety—living in a cold, uncaring universe—enough to relax, have sex and reproduce more offspring than those who believe in God’s love, care and provision for them, evolutionists may become the dominant species.  Then self-delusion could be considered an evolutionary advantage “chosen” by natural selection.  If not, evolutionists may die off eventually as other more beneficial beliefs prove more conducive to differential reproduction.^[7]

Tables comparing Isaiah 55:8; 55:9; Genesis 1:29 and 1:30 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Isaiah 55:8; 55:9; Genesis 1:29 and 1:30 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.