Bandwidth limits how much data can be transmitted per unit time. A slow connection can't handle high-resolution video—it requires compression, lower quality, or longer transmission time. You can't force more data through a limited pipe than it can handle.
Human capacity to receive divine revelation faces similar bandwidth limitations. We're finite creatures with limited comprehension, processing speed, and retention. God's infinite reality can't be directly downloaded into finite minds—it requires compression, accommodation, mediation.
The Incarnation is God's ultimate bandwidth solution—compressing infinite divine reality into human-receivable form.
The Information Problem
God is infinite. We're finite. The information disparity is absolute. If God communicated Himself fully, we'd be overwhelmed—like trying to download the internet through a dial-up modem.
Theologians call this accommodation—God adjusts revelation to human capacity. Scripture uses human language, anthropomorphic imagery, progressive disclosure—all bandwidth management strategies.
But these remain limited. Words point toward divine realities but can't fully express them. Images illuminate but inadequately. Even Scripture, God's inspired word, is finite communication about infinite reality.
My Autistic Processing Limits
As an autistic person, I'm acutely aware of processing limitations. Information overload is real—too much sensory input, too many simultaneous demands, too complex social dynamics, and my cognitive systems crash.
I need information compressed, structured, delivered at manageable rates. Give me systematic theology over chaotic impressions. Give me written text over rapid conversation. Give me time to process rather than demanding immediate response.
God's revelation shows similar consideration. He doesn't blast us with unmediated divine reality. He compresses, structures, progressively reveals—respecting our finite bandwidth.
The Incarnation as Compression
Christ is infinite God compressed into finite human form. Not loss of divinity but accommodation to human capacity. "The Word became flesh"—ultimate reality translated into human-receivable format.
This isn't just metaphor. Jesus is genuinely God and genuinely human. The Second Person of the Trinity exists in human bandwidth—speaking human words, displaying human emotions, living within human limitations.
We can receive Christ because He's compressed to our bandwidth. We couldn't receive the unmediated Divine Logos—the bandwidth would destroy us. But we can receive Jesus of Nazareth—divine reality in human form.
Progressive Revelation
Scripture shows progressive bandwidth expansion. Old Testament revelation was preparatory—limited disclosure suited to preparatory phase. Prophets received glimpses, types and shadows pointed forward, but full revelation waited.
Christ is the fullness—"the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). Not that Old Testament was false, but that it was incomplete—appropriately limited bandwidth for its phase in redemptive history.
We're still learning to process the fullness revealed in Christ. Two thousand years of theology represents ongoing decompression—unpacking the infinite compressed into incarnate form.
Eschatological Bandwidth
"Now we see dimly... then face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12). Current bandwidth is limited—even with Christ, we don't comprehend fully. Glorification will expand our capacity.
Not infinite bandwidth—we'll remain creatures. But sufficient bandwidth to receive much more than current limitations allow. The compression won't be needed because the receiver will be upgraded.
American Information Glut
American culture suffers information overload—constant connectivity, unlimited content, endless options. We have bandwidth for vast quantities of information but struggle with wisdom, discernment, depth.
Christianity offers quality over quantity. Not unlimited religious information but compressed essential truth. Not endless options but focused revelation. The bandwidth is limited deliberately—what we need, not everything we might want.
Conclusion
Bandwidth limitations require compression. Human finitude required divine accommodation. God couldn't directly download His infinite reality into finite minds—He compressed it into Incarnate form.
Christ is ultimate bandwidth solution—infinite compressed to finite, divine compressed to human, eternal compressed to historical. Receivable, comprehensible, life-transforming.
My autistic processing limits make me appreciate divine consideration. God respects our bandwidth, compresses appropriately, reveals progressively. The Incarnation is ultimate demonstration of this respect—God meeting us at our level while remaining fully Himself.
One day our bandwidth expands. We'll see face to face, know fully, comprehend infinitely more than current limitations allow. But even then, we'll remain finite creatures receiving from infinite God—always more to learn, always further to grow, always grateful for revelation compressed to our capacity.
Until then, we receive what bandwidth allows—Christ, Scripture, Spirit-guidance. Sufficient for salvation, sanctification, service. Not everything we might want to know, but everything we truly need.
Like good compression algorithms: preserving essential information, fitting finite channels, enabling successful transmission. God's revelation is perfectly compressed for human reception.
And Christ is the ultimate compressed file—containing infinite divine reality in human-sized package, perfectly suited to our bandwidth, fully adequate for our needs.