Purpose and design (Evolution)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Friday, April 21, 2017, 18:32 (2771 days ago) @ dhw

TONY: I was teasing, mostly. I've noticed though that things like creating animals that go extinct, or some of the punishments listed in the OT, or even allowing bad things to happen as consequences of our actions doesn't sit well with you.

DHW: No problem with “teasing”. David and I do it all the time! However, the serious bit depends on what you mean by “doesn’t sit well”. You like to focus on human actions, as if humans alone are responsible for all the “bad things” in the world. Self-interest and destructiveness began long before humans arrived on the scene. Carnivorousness, disease and natural disasters are not human inventions. And so if your God really exists, I ask myself what, if anything, they might reveal about his nature. It’s not a matter of “not sitting well” or even of complaining. The world is as it is, for better or worse. I am simply exploring the possible implications.

If something has served its purpose and is no longer needed, why keep it? If you have to destroy it, why not use the mechanisms already in place, like bacteria to create a disease or a meteorite? Yes, it does reveal his nature. He obeys his own laws. He is not hesitant about destroying that which is no longer needed. He may even be sentimental about it, but does not let the sentimentality stop him from doing what must be done.

TONY: As for whether or not our ways stink, I am referring more to humanity as a whole as opposed to individuals. Even as individuals though, we tend to be shortsighted, narrow-minded, prejudiced, rash, impulsive, and selfish. Even people who we think of as good people.

DHW: Yes, we are all a mixture, and so if we take quite literally the belief that God made humans in his own image, and if we consider the mixture that is clear from his creations even prior to the arrival of humans, it is not unreasonable to ask ourselves whether God himself might not be just such a mixture.

I have always acknowledged that God possessed qualities like jealousy, anger, regret, etc.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.