Divine purposes and methods (Evolution)

by dhw, Monday, December 31, 2018, 13:13 (1935 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: As we have agreed so many times before, and as you repeat below, there is no visible reason why evolution should have proceeded beyond bacteria. The fact that humans are more self-aware, intelligent and powerful than any other species does not mean that your God specially designed millions of other species extant and extinct merely in order to provide food so that life could go on for 3.5+ billion years until he could produce us.

DAVID: I'm simply accepting that what evolution's history shows us is God's work, and all you are doing is rejecting that approach as an agnostic. Therefore, it is simple for me to believe God ran the process of evolution and ended up with our appearance. I believe. You don't.

This discussion has nothing whatsoever to do with belief in God. I am questioning your interpretation of your God’s purposes and methods because, as below, your interpretation of these is illogical.

DAVID: As for questioning his full control, that allows him to chose any method he wished. I don’t know why you don’t accept that. I do.

dhw: And this is where your logic breaks down, as you readily admit, because you cannot explain why, if humans were his sole purpose and he was in full control and could choose any method he wished, he chose to spend 3.5+ thousand million years specially designing millions of life forms, econiches, lifestyles and natural wonders before he specially designed us.

DAVID: I accept what I see as God's work. You are the one with the logic problem about His choices. Evolution is obviously a driven process, and it is easy to see God as the driver.

But you have acknowledged many times that you cannot explain why, if he could choose any method he wished in order to implement his one and only purpose, he chose to spend 3.5+ billion years specially designing millions of life forms etc., as above. If you cannot find any logical explanation, what you are “accepting” is not God’s work but your own illogical interpretation of his purpose and method.

DAVID: You keep fussing about the time evolution took. Accept that it did.

dhw: Of course evolution has taken time, and will continue to take time until life dies out! That doesn’t mean your God gave himself the commandment: “Thou shalt take 3.5+ billion years and specially design and kill off millions of life forms etc. before specially designing the one thing thou wantest to design.”

DAVID: You are questioning God's decisions who remains hidden. So I must conclude you have a direct conduit into his intentions and decisions. For you God is not logical. You are an agnostic and have every right to judge His logic as you see it.

I am not questioning God’s decisions or his logic. I am questioning the logicality of your interpretation of his intentions and decisions! It is you who can’t explain why a God who is in full control decided to postpone designing the only thing he wanted to design until he had spent 3.5+ billion years specially designing millions of life forms etc. so that they could eat one another. So maybe one, two or all three of these interpretations are wrong.

DAVID: I don't explain. I Interpret. If God used time consuming evolution as His production process all the diversity provides food for survive of life. Totally logical.

It is totally logical that if God exists, he set evolution in motion, and it is totally logical that all organisms provide food for life, and life can’t survive without food. What is totally illogical is the dislocation between full control, single purpose, and 3.5+ billion years of bush, as described above five times.