God and evolution (Evolution)

by David Turell , Tuesday, March 28, 2017, 19:14 (2795 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: 'Limited' is part of either/or reasoning. We can't know which is correct, and you keep implying a need for exactitude! Really!

dhw: How can I be demanding exactitude when I offer THREE possible and perfectly logical explanations for the “delay”? They are different hypotheses, and I do not insist on any of them. The exactitude is yours, not mine: namely, that God’s purpose from the beginning was to produce humans, and “everything else was related to that goal”.

My problem is the word 'delay'. Because humans arrived at the end of evolution, both of us have assumed we must explain it. I have tried to convert the conversation to a different approach in which we recognize it is not a delay at all, just a part of a timeless God's plan. He may not view it as delayed. Therefore, why should we? No explanation is required!

dhw:Once more: not a supposition, but one of three alternative explanations for the late arrival of humans.

No explanation needed.

dhw: I do not imply that he had no purpose – on the contrary, I am the one who emphasizes purpose on two levels: a) why did he create life, and (b) why have there been millions of life forms, lifestyles and natural wonders extant and extinct? Since you cannot explain b) in relation to your theory that his purpose was to create humans, you have ended up by asking why you should have to explain it! We are just supposed to accept your anthropocentric interpretation of evolution without question.

Note the above approach removes the problem.

DAVID: Humans were His main purpose. Everything else relates to that goal. Do you have any purposes for Him He might want to achieve?

dhw: If you say his “main” purpose for creating life was humans, he must have had other purposes. Please let us know what you think they are.

I don't have any others. "He must have" is a requirement you have invented for Him.

dhw: I have already offered you a different main purpose, which fits in perfectly with your theory that he is hidden and is observing us: namely, that he created a spectacle for himself to watch.

Humanizing again, and you can't know that.

dhw:You agree that ALL of them fit the facts as we know them, but you reject them because they conflict with your suppositions, which you acknowledge do not make sense, i.e. for which you cannot find a clear explanation.

I agree your suppositions fit the history. But they do not emphasize the goal of humans that God has. My clearest explanation is that God does not see a 'delay' as we do.