Balance of nature: saved in New Zealand (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, December 01, 2016, 19:15 (2913 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: And David’s comment: (under biodiversity) Whether humans are the ultimate purpose or not is part of our debate. Accepting that we are here and in control, biodiversity is what made it happen. This explains the need for the bush of life. God knows what He is doing.
dhw: I’m sure that if God exists he knows what he is doing. My scepticism concerns whether YOU know what your God is doing. All forms of life depend on and have always depended on there being food for them to eat, which means there has to be biodiversity. The fact that 99% of species have disappeared suggests to me a free-for-all (which would have been your God's intention).

Define free-for-all. Environmental extinctions? Dog eat dog? Remember all early species have been replaced by now more advanced species until we arrived. Not a free-for-all but a cAreful plan. Just as reasonable.

dhw: It does not suggest to me that your God designed the brontosaurus and the trilobite and the weaverbird’s nest and the duckbilled platypus in order to ensure that humans could appear on Earth. (But my theistic evolutionary hypothesis allows for him to dabble, perhaps in order to give humans their extra degrees of consciousness.) The concept is so simple….

And anywhere near correct? I see steady planned advancement from simple to complex.