How God works (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, January 13, 2013, 17:18 (4333 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

TONY: So, one area where I sort of differ(I think) with David is that I do not believe that humanity is the end all be all of the divine purpose. We are an integral part though, just as your evolutionary 'bush' is. Our stated purpose was to be the gardener, if you will, the caretaker, the 'husband' of the natural world. [...] As for why it was designed with innovation and inventive mechanisms in place [...] the earth was not always going to be precisely the same as when it was created. That would be a dead world, and boring to boot.-Of course I can't go along with "stated purpose", since I don't accept the authority of your sources, but putting on my theist hat, I'm happy with your agreement concerning inventive mechanisms, and with your reference to "boring". This particular section of the discussion concerned David's belief that humans were the ultimate aim, and evolution was pre-programmed to produce them. I was not "asking why God didn't build a train that ran on rails" but pointing out that God didn't build a train, which suggests that humans were not the ultimate aim.-TONY: I know you are going to try and pick this paragraph to pieces, and I don't blame you, but that is it in a nut shell to the best of my ability to explain.
 
I shan't quote the paragraph or "pick it to pieces", because my own post was specifically targeted at what seem to me to be confusing elements in your beliefs or arguments. References to more texts and details only confuse me more! Using Revelation and other texts, you have told me: 1) We are going to be physically resurrected; 2) God will create a new earth, will kill off the resurrected and unreformed sinners forever, but will allow the faithful to live with him (presumably forever) on this new earth; 3) God could not have created our planet any other way. If any of this is wrong, do please correct me. If not, I would like to know in your own words: 1) how you think the practical problems of resurrection will be solved, 2) what this "new earth" actually means if it DOESN'T mean a physical planet on which the physically resurrected bodies will live with God forever, and 3) why you believe that God is incapable of building a pain-free planet, in spite of Revelation 21, 1-4!-However, if these beliefs really make sense to you, I can accept that they are based on faith and I should not expect a rational answer, any more than I would expect a rational answer from an atheist if I asked him why he believed chance could assemble a mechanism too complex for humans to understand let alone replicate. I am quite good at asking questions, but hopeless at answering them, so I'm in no position to expect answers from others!
 
(I share your scepticism about existing political and religious systems, but only partially accept your claim that the earth would heal itself in short order if we would quit screwing around with it.)