God and evolution: weaverbirds (Evolution)

by dhw, Monday, April 03, 2017, 12:42 (2789 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Tony said: "In short, my view is that Jehovah designed themes and allowed for variants within constraints". I interpret that as very close to my thoughts. Instructing a bird in how to do it is virtually the same.

dhw: Our specific subject here is the weaverbird. The theme, then, is nest-building. The weaverbird’s nest is a variant on the theme of nest-building. According to you, the weaverbird’s nest is too complex for the bird to have constructed its own variant, and so God designed it. (What’s more, God designed it because it is related to the production of humans, because everything God has done is related to the production of humans.) There is a world of difference between direct intervention by your God, and your God “allowing” birds to design their own variants, to do which he must have given them the necessary mechanisms.

DAVID: Of course, they have epigenetics for variation, no argument.

So why do you insist that your God must have specially designed the weaverbird’s nest because it is too complicated for the weaverbird to have designed by itself? Ditto the monarch’s lifestyle and the fly’s compound eye. These are all variations. And how are they all related to God’s “only goal” – the production of humans?