Alpha Phi Omega

Written By Robert Raduta

How many times have you been warned that we live in “an increasingly secular world”? How many evangelism videos have you seen preparing you to deal with the critical, cynical atheist? Of course, this is a real and pressing issue of our day, and the opening verse of Psalm 14 assures us that man’s outright denial of God’s existence is not a modern phenomenon, but that it is a rather persistent fruit on the tree of sin:

The fool says in his heart
“There is no God”
Psalm 14:1

But throughout the thread of God’s redemptive story, we are shown that man enjoys sinning with a “high hand”, and that there are many ways to turn away from God. We are warned time and again that the indwelling sin in man’s heart is, to quote Calvin, a “perpetual forge of idols”: 

Everyone’s toil is for their mouth
Yet their appetite is never satisfied
Ecclesiastes 6:7

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. 
Who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9

The forged idol of a-theism is beginning to rust and turn to dust, because it was only quickly cobbled together in the last few hundred years. The doctrines of the homo sapiens were hastily jotted down in a panicked response to emerging theories: Darwin’s rejection of mankind’s image-bearing origin and status; Freud’s redefinition of sin as “subconscious sexual and violent urges”, to name but a few. (Want more examples? Go to any primary school and see what our children are being told.) These atheistic theories fuelled the illusion that understanding (or thinking we understand!) the inner workings of the watch somehow allows us to reject the watch-maker. For the past few hundred years, the god of “mankind” has been worshipping itself, but the materialist worldview is quickly losing traction in favour of a seemingly new zeitgeist.

The fact is, a couple of centuries and some change is a relatively short span of time in the history of God’s people, and no time at all in God’s sight. It is vital to keep a historical view of our fallen world as it exists in its current form, because the idols collectively labelled “new-age” are really nothing new at all. Because God is constant, so must the perversions of His truth be constant. The truth hasn’t changed, so the lie hasn’t changed. This brings us to the topic of this article: the “new-age” deception, specifically in relation to God’s design as seen in this world. I pray that the following words will encourage you to glorify our Father for His good, true and beautiful gifts, and equip you to lovingly proclaim His mighty deeds by reaching out to lost souls who are worshipping creation, rather than the Creator.

Glorify

David is able to sing joyfully of God’s creation: 

Your works are wonderful
I know that full well
Psalm 139:14

Are we able to say the same? Do we know it “full well”? Are we truly glorifying the Lord our God for everything He has made for us?

Throughout the Bible we often see examples of God’s people being humbled by the actions of those who do not even wish for Him to be their God. There are many ways to turn away from God, but just because the things He made have been turned into an idol, does not mean we should ignore the thing itself. If anything, this idolatry should motivate us to recover the gifts that our Father meant to be used for His glory. We need to take these truths off the throne and “steal back” from those that would turn a good thing into a god thing.

Take a moment to ponder the image below.

What do babies, pinecones and hurricanes have in common? From the atoms inside you to the galaxies around you, all of creation is marked by a beautiful mathematical pattern. No matter what name it is given – the Golden ratio, Fibonacci sequence, fractal geometry, phi – the Lord has placed it everywhere. I prefer the term phi, for two reasons. First and foremost, this term keeps my mind focused on my Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ throughout all of this scientific research. It is He that said: 

I am the Alpha and the Omega
the First and the Last
The Beginning and the End
Revelation 22:13

Here we have the authoritative words of the one “through whom are all things”. The use of Alpha & Omega (A & Ω being the A to Z of the Greek alphabet) tells us that Jesus Christ is sovereign over all creation, because phi (Φ) is just another Greek letter that is enveloped between A & Ω. As we will see in the next section, there are some that exalt this pattern of creation to god status. By referring to this mathematical constant as phi, rather than the “golden ratio”, we can remind ourselves that the Alpha & Omega, the King of kings, is the creator and maintainer of this world.

The second reason I prefer the term phi is more pragmatic: it’s important to remember that when we are looking for, and talking about, this design, we are not just considering spirals. Below are just a few examples of the phi ratio being expressed through different geometric patterns. The main thing to keep in mind is that the ratio is 1:1.618, which can be seen in the a:b ratio in the image below. Whether this mathematical principle is expressed as a spiral, triangle, square, or simply a distance of a certain length between multiple points, it is the same design we are talking about.

God made a glorious world for us to know & image Him in. Where we are, who we are, and what we do are three different canvasses on which our Father graciously paints a portrait of who He is.

Where are we?

How does a particle know to respect a mathematical formula which has no end? We are not able to follow the pi, phi, and other infinite numbers to the end of their sequence, but the Lord graciously allows us to observe their never-ending flow of intricate information. The fact alone that we have been granted this knowledge of God’s craftmanship should drive us to tears, and yet it rarely does.

At every scale, every level of existence, the same beautiful pattern declares the glory of the Designer who made it all.

For lost souls, it can be a pointer to their Creator, and God willing, it can make them yearn for the love, grace & mercy they need - but what does this design mean for us who are saved? While the beauty of creation gives us a glimpse of the majesty of Heaven, we also have to deal with the reality of the fallen world we live in. The great Painter used (and is using) the canvas of creation to tell us about “His eternal power and divine nature”, yet we are still not satisfied. We can feel something is wrong at a deeper level. There might be thousands of flowers that clearly exhibit the “golden” phi ratio, yet they all wilt and die eventually. When they do, we can see in a very quantifiable way that God’s design has been twisted. Symmetrical petals turning into brown mulch that worms feed on has something to say to both lost and saved souls. It is a reminder of the spiritual reality that we are living in. The gentle beauty points to the love of God, and the ugly decay points to our disobedience. Graciously, our Father reassures His children that the only everlasting glory in this world is to be found in Him:

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever.
Isaiah 40:8

The beautiful design of animals doesn’t change their strained relationship with man. Most people love animals, but do they love us? We sense there is something wrong when we reach out to an animal and it runs away. The intricate and diverse members of the animal kingdom point to the glory of the King, but the danger, disobedience, or even plain disinterest shown to humans is a reminder that the natural order is out of balance because of us. There is a reason we create fantasy tales where the princess is surrounded by animals that joyously follow and obey every command: it’s the way things are meant to be. Our Father lovingly soothes our grief and nourishes our hope with this promise:

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
Romans 8:20,21

The elements themselves are angry with us as well. Volcanoes rage, hurricanes lash out and earthquakes shatter. People try to fix these problems without addressing the root issue: the sin we brought into the world. We were made to have dominion over the planet and all that moves on it, but our rejection of God’s sovereignty has brought utter corruption upon everything. When we become bored with the idols on earth, man even turns to the starry host, which shines to tell of God’s glory, into an object of worship.

Who we are

Our bodies, too, show the glory, wisdom, and grace of our Maker:

For you formed my inward parts;
You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
-	Psalm 139:13-14

Our hands, for example, are constructed according to the phi ratio. While the palm of our hand is not a swirly spiral itself, the joints in our fingers are placed at distances of the “golden proportion”, the 1:1.618 ratio. If they weren’t arranged according to this mathematical rule, we would find it very difficult to make a fist, or even hold things properly. This geometric proof that we are indeed wonderfully made is magnified throughout our whole body, at different layers of existence.

The phi proportions that are visible to the naked eye have been apparent for centuries, if not longer. Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” famously illustrates that the “ideal” proportions of the human body adhere to these measurements. A generally agreed-upon standard of beauty tends to gravitate towards this very same ratio.

Thanks to God, Who has allowed us to develop new ways of exploring His creation, we are now able to “zoom in” deeper than ever before into the layers of creation. Our lungs, through which the Lord allows us to draw breath every day, branch off their twin bronchial trees at the same 1:1.618 ratio that most leafy trees do. There is poetry in the fact that these lungs, one filled with chlorophyll and the other with blood, are identical not only in their role, but in the way they are weaved together. We should not be surprised that all of biological creation respects this equation, since DNA itself swirls and swivels according to phi.

While the human body is a wonderful work, it has been corrupted by our rejection of God’s will for our lives.

The hand might be perfectly fit for purpose, but many do not get to experience the blessing of limbs due to birth defects, accidents caused by workplace negligence, and even intentional violence.

We might idyllically yearn for beauty, but it is often turned into an excuse for lust, bullying and judgement.

We can take solace that we have a gracious God who remembers the purpose of His creation, and upholds his mercy and justice even when we sin with the gifts He gave us:

For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7

The fact that we share geometric proportions with trees and shells does not mean that we are the same as them. We are carbon dust whose God-breathed soul gives us the heavenly privilege & responsibility to image our Maker. Men and women achieve this imaging through bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and not through having certain physical features. Creation and its design cues point to God’s wisdom & beauty, but it is what He does with the corruption we introduce, the effects of sin, that shows us His grace & mercy. We only have hope of a restored earth & humanity because God walked sinlessly among us, with a body just like ours, and took our due punishment on a whittled tree.

What we do

When did the earth and sea conspire to create seeds and shells that are mathematically identical? When did your double-helix decide to dance the same dance as the Milky Way? Rather, what we should be asking is: 

Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
Job 12:9

It is a question that our ancestors have been asking for thousands of years. The question used to mystify us, and the true answer always glorified Him. When we ask this question, when we build, and draw, and write, and make, and do, we are fulfilling a certain aspect of imaging our Creator. To glorify Him by enjoying the world He has given us is still part of our mandate, even though we have to do it in a fallen world. To awe at His work and use His gifts is one of our privileges, and the phi ratio has been a key to interacting with the world He has given us.

By walking the ruined streets of ancient civilizations, we can speculate the extent to which they even cared to ask the deeper questions of life. Although pagan cultures were not interested in giving the glory to God, many of the most famous monuments show that its builders had a deep understanding of the world we live in. Even some of the bigger cathedrals that have been built over the last few centuries exhibit phi, which is a stark warning for us; it is very easy to turn beauty and intellect into an idol.

However, just because the pursuit of artistic beauty can lead to sin, does not mean we should embrace the other extreme. The next time you find yourself in a bustling city, take some time to look at the architecture around you. What does it say about the people who built it? How does it make you feel? Modern minimalism will begin to make more sense once you take into account the fact that beauty is one of the ways we can glorify God.

This extends to other forms of art as well. While phi is not necessary for a beautiful painting, there are countless examples of this proportion being used by artists throughout history. The timeless pursuit of beauty is contrasted in our present society by a stubborn rejection of truth and beauty. The ubiquity of simplistic modern art shows, just like current architectural works, that society is turning away from God’s gifts, and attempting to redefine the meaning of truth, goodness and beauty.

Music, too, is something we can glorify God with. Mozart, among other famous composers, arranged his bars to divide themselves into (you guessed it!) a 1.618 ratio. Understanding this mathematical principle also allows us to appreciate the dimensions and choices that different cultures make regarding their instruments.

Our lifetime is not enough to truly appreciate God’s design, which is why he so graciously promises us an eternity in which we can enjoy creation with Him. Rather than filling the rest of the article with hundreds of images, I will include a list of labelled links at the end, so that you may browse and explore this aspect of God’s goodness at your own pace. I will also try to include some examples from different areas of life, so that it may hopefully equip you to connect God’s wisdom with various interests your friends and family might have.

This geometric signature of the Designer is a powerful way to show lost sheep the work of their maker, but if this truth is not deep in our hearts, then the result will be a mere exercise of memorising facts & figures. If we are to “spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere”, we need to not only show His work of creation, but proclaim the salvation and redemption of His corrupted, rebellious creatures.

Proclaim

The above image shows only a few of the many intricate ways in which these geometric rules can arrange themselves. We observe these patterns in the way the planets orbit in relation to one another, in the way atoms and molecules bond together, in the cross sections of cells, the formation of crystals… the list goes on, and it grows every day, with each new scientific discovery.

If these symbols seem religious, mystical, or “occult” in any way, you are not alone. These purely mathematical motifs have been stolen by new-age cultists, and understanding of their significance has largely been mixed in with idolatrous and blasphemous lies. What God means to be widely known for His glory has been turned into obscure esoteric trivia.

There are two broad categories in which the idolatry falls, and both of the lies are crushed by the heel of this verse:

…the builder of a house has greater honour than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
Hebrews 3:3,4

The design is “god”

Without context, a very sensible reaction to these patterns would be to say that they are hippie drawings. And it is a sensible reaction, because sadly that is the environment where most people come across this sort of “art”. If we apply our verse, we can easily understand, and explain, the type of idolatry that is taking place. The paint has been stripped off the walls, and the arrangement of the bricks has been observed. The bricks are given the honour for falling in just the right way to form a house. Put simply, the phi ratio and its many ways of being visualised is just a very complicated arrangement of bricks, whose ubiquity in all of creation gives us a taste of the infinite wisdom of the house builder.

While generic talk of “universe” and “energy” might entertain this type of idolater for a while, it is not long before the God-shaped hole in their hearts starts yearning for the deep relationship it was made for. Keep all this in mind the next time someone says “This is a gift from Mother Nature”; would they be as quick to give thanks to God by saying “This is a gift from Our Father in Heaven”? What about the claim that we “need to respect Mother Nature”; is the same urgent appeal made regarding the need to respect God? What about people who piously say, when faced with a natural disaster: “Mother Nature is mad at us, and rightly so!”. Would they accept that God has a right to exhibit His holy wrath against sinful creatures? Why is an all-loving, all-knowing mother so easily accepted but the idea of a loving heavenly Father unacceptable? For this type of idolater, the beauty of nature and the need for a divine relationship is undeniable, so the serpent provides a 180 degree distortion of scripture, with everything flipped upside-down and inside-out.

The design makes you “god”

In a way, worshipping creation instead of the Creator is the religious version of a “gateway drug”, since it so often degenerates into self-worship. It is here that we see the “new-age” lie to be nothing more than the first lie, told to a new generation. Current day gurus talking about opening the “third eye” and increasing “consciousness” are doing nothing more than being a sock puppet for the serpent, who was first to whisper this lie into our ears: 

But the serpent said to the woman “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:4,5

A very clear example of how the phi ratio is used to promote this lie can be seen when magic is shown in mass media. When these geometric patterns are shown as tools, portals or methods of controlling aspects of the realms (whether physical or spiritual), the message is simple: if you can understand and control these patterns, you will have control over reality itself. Our verse once again protects us against such a lie: understanding the blueprints of the house (in whatever limited amount we can), does not make us the housebuilders.

This ancient lie is able to take root again because for several generations, the Word of God has been increasingly neglected. For this “new” religion to form, atheism and secularism had to break up the stained glass of faith. While a few generations were happy to be secular shards on the ground, it is clear that the next generation is being groomed into following a particular doctrine which is purposefully antithetical to holy scripture. In order to be salt and light in the time God has put us, we need to recover the true, good and beautiful gifts He made for His children. Prayerful discernment is needed to not stumble young brothers & sisters in Christ, but we still need to dismantle the spiritual propaganda that is being broadcast in all aspects of life: education (from toddler age all the way to higher level academia), media, science, journalism; since the beauty of God’s design signature can be seen in all layers of life, so must the corruption of His truth be spread in the same places. We have both an assurance and a warning from the Lord Jesus Christ; if something is true, it is from Our Father, but it is still something that Satan can twist and corrupt:

[The devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:44

There is much more that can be said on the subject, and I hope you will be among the voices to say it. Wherever God has placed you, there will be some way in which His design signature relates to your life. We might not all be musicians, architects, or biologists, but we do all share one thing: He called us all for this moment. In a few decades, our grandchildren will be asking us what we did in the 2020s. Our faith to lovingly proclaim his mighty deeds now will determine the answer we can give then. God is not just the one who gave us our first breath, but the one who gave His last breath on the cross so that we might be able to enjoy His creation with Him, forever. I pray that the Church will be able to reach out lovingly in truth, all for the glory of God.

He who forms the mountains,
    who creates the wind,
    and who reveals his thoughts to mankind,
who turns dawn to darkness,
    and treads on the heights of the earth—
    the Lord God Almighty is his name.
-	Amos 4:13

Further Research

Robert Raduta
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