Unanswered questions (General)

by dhw, Tuesday, May 14, 2019, 13:14 (1780 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: Once more: I am questioning your COMBINATION of assumptions. You have your always-in-control God saying to himself: “I only want to design H. sapiens (ASSUMPTION 1), and so first I will specially design (ASSUMPTION 2) dinosaurs, whale flippers, cuttlefish camouflage, monarch lifestyles and the weaverbird’s nest, and I will do so (ASSUMPTION 3) in order that they should all eat or not one eat another until I design the only thing I want to design.” That is what makes no sense, and you admit that even you “have no idea” why he would have chosen such a “method”!

DAVID: You constantly return to the same refrain that you feel God shouldn't have waited to produce humans and has no right to choose to evolve humans. My entry today about carbon shows God had to evolve processes in the universe first. If I apply your strange thinking to the universe, why didn't He create the universe full blown, and the Earth full blown?

That is NOT my refrain! Look at the other assumptions. I am not questioning evolution, and if God exists, then of course evolution was his method of achieving his purpose. But if his only purpose was to design humans, why according to you did he specially design dinosaurs, whale flippers, cuttlefish camouflage, monarch lifestyle and the weaverbird’s nest? You don’t know, and that is why you admit that you have “no idea” why he chose such a method.

DAVID: Why do you enter my mind and tell me I find myself as illogical?

When I ask the above question about dinosaurs etc., you tell us it was so that these organisms could eat or not eat one another until he implemented the method he chose, though you don’t know why: “Haven’t you realized by now, I have no idea why God chose to evolve humans over time.” If you have no idea why he would choose your interpretation of his method in order to fulfil your interpretation of his purpose, you can hardly claim that your interpretations are logical.

DAVID: Control of human actions is never equivalent to a control of evolution itself! You are straining at gnats!

dhw: It is not an equivalent to control of evolution, it is an example of your God being willing to relinquish control over his creations. If he can watch unpredictable humans with interest, why can’t he watch unpredictable speciation with interest?

DAVID: That is your idea, not mine. However, giving us free will allows Him the option of watching to see how we use it.

Precisely. And giving evolution free rein allows him the option of watching just what his wonderful invention can produce.

DAVID: God will not lose control over speciation.

How do you know?

DAVID: He is more purposeful than you think, as I view Him.

Watching to see how we use our free will and watching to see what his invention can produce are as purposeful as any purpose you can name, and they provide a perfectly logical explanation for all the natural wonders that have nothing whatsoever to do with your single purpose of producing H. sapiens.


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