Balance of nature illustrated (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, February 09, 2015, 17:53 (3574 days ago) @ dhw

dhw:Please remember we are trying to find a convincing explanation for the diversity of life and the constant comings and goings, which you say amount to 99% of life forms but were all somehow geared to the production of humans. Perhaps I misunderstood what you meant, but sometimes it is quite hard to follow your line of reasoning.-The reasoning is working back from the against-odds appearance of humans. We know humans are here. We know that life stays in balance, despite all the losses. Therefore I assume a connection, which is, since we know that life takes continuous ingestion of energy, the two are tied together.-> DAVID: I'm not arguing that point as you present it. I agree that animals appear to do some design on their own, but the basis of our argument is the issue of instinct as the problem. We do not know how it arises. Either the bird nest is a matter of repetitive attempts over many generations with epigenetic alterations or they were helped with design by pre-existing genetic instructions. I have my choice.
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> dhw: Of course you do. I don't have a problem with “design” as an argument. The problem for me continues to be the difficulty of fitting together all the bits and pieces that make up your choice: a 3.7-billion-year inheritable programme, divine personal demonstrations, the relevance of the nest and a 99% extinction rate to a balanced food supply and the emergence of humans as God's goal for evolution...-Of explained my reasoning above. For all the incidental issues you keep dwelling upon, I have offered reasonable guesses. But I stick to the dilemma as the best spot to be in for the moment: I don't have an answer. Which is why I brought up the issue of the mind of God. Does He think like we do? We have only our minds to consider as evidence. I don't know if He does. I see the evidence for evolution of life. I have assumed that God guides it, as the best explanation for appearance of humans. You keep harping on how He does it, and I've freely admitted, I don't know. It seems as if you will accept design if I can prove a methodology to God's handling of evolution. I can't. Based on odds humans shouldn't be here. Since they are here, it is easy to assume God arranged it. Easy for me but not for you. So be it. Remember, my acceptance of God is based on lots of other factors besides the process of evolution.