Concepts of God: universe too big for Him? (The nature of a \'Creator\')

by dhw, Friday, November 10, 2017, 13:54 (2569 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: The fact that you believe in God as the first cause does not explain why he needed the big, big universe in order to produce the brain of Homo sapiens (the human-oriented vision of God you share with the Bible). The authors regard this as evidence for atheism. Hence my conclusion: "For you the fallacy in the authors’ reasoning would then be that your God must have had a human-oriented reason for the giant universe, even though you can’t think of one. Alternatively a different type of theist could argue that the giant universe merely indicates that God was NOT human-oriented but had other purposes in mind." Which of these alternatives do you regard as true?

DAVID: I've given you the answer. God evolved the giant universe to create the one life-supporting Earth that would eventually allow the evolution of the brain. I've never met an alternative theist in your second suggestion except your agnostic supposed theistic thinking.

I was offering you an alternative to the first suggestion. I don’t remember ever offering a theistic explanation for the giant universe. I agree with the authors that its vastness and seemingly random comings and goings are an argument for atheism. But the complexities of life are an argument for theism. And so I remain agnostic. Meanwhile, you are now left with my first suggestion: God must have had a human-oriented reason for the giant universe, even though you can’t think of one. The answer you have given above does not explain WHY he created the GIANT universe when all he wanted was to create the human brain, and that was the authors’ point. You have said yourself you don’t know why, so maybe we should leave it at that.