Divine purposes and methods (Evolution)

by David Turell , Monday, December 31, 2018, 18:22 (2152 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: This discussion has nothing whatsoever to do with belief in God. I am questioning your interpretation of your God’s purposes and methods because, as below, your interpretation of these is illogical.

I'm simply logically noting that diversity in life provides food for evolution to continue. You question 'why so much diversity' as if you think less would do. You question what God did. I don't do that. I simply use what is present and interpret a reasonable explanation.

DAVID: I accept what I see as God's work. You are the one with the logic problem about His choices. Evolution is obviously a driven process, and it is easy to see God as the driver.

dhw: But you have acknowledged many times that you cannot explain why, if he could choose any method he wished in order to implement his one and only purpose, he chose to spend 3.5+ billion years specially designing millions of life forms etc., as above. If you cannot find any logical explanation, what you are “accepting” is not God’s work but your own illogical interpretation of his purpose and method.

Why do I have to explain God's choices of method? He made the choice, I didn't. I simply give a probable explanation of why He did it the way it was done. Nothing illogical. You are the one trying to enter God's mind and producing all sorts of humanistic versions of God's thinking.

DAVID: You keep fussing about the time evolution took. Accept that it did.

dhw: Of course evolution has taken time, and will continue to take time until life dies out! That doesn’t mean your God gave himself the commandment: “Thou shalt take 3.5+ billion years and specially design and kill off millions of life forms etc. before specially designing the one thing thou wantest to design.”

DAVID: You are questioning God's decisions who remains hidden. So I must conclude you have a direct conduit into his intentions and decisions. For you God is not logical. You are an agnostic and have every right to judge His logic as you see it.

dhw: I am not questioning God’s decisions or his logic. I am questioning the logicality of your interpretation of his intentions and decisions! It is you who can’t explain why a God who is in full control decided to postpone designing the only thing he wanted to design until he had spent 3.5+ billion years specially designing millions of life forms etc. so that they could eat one another. So maybe one, two or all three of these interpretations are wrong.

First, I have no obligation to tell you why He chose evolution as His method. I simply accept His decision to evolve advanced complex organisms. Second, humans are the current advanced result of evolution. Therefore they are obviously the current goal of the evolutionary process. But imaging what more can happen in future evolution involves pure guesswork so why bother? I'll stick with what we know. The only illogical event going on is your constant attempting to study God as if He were human and had human thoughts.

DAVID: I don't explain. I Interpret. If God used time consuming evolution as His production process all the diversity provides food for survive of life. Totally logical.

dhw: It is totally logical that if God exists, he set evolution in motion, and it is totally logical that all organisms provide food for life, and life can’t survive without food. What is totally illogical is the dislocation between full control, single purpose, and 3.5+ billion years of bush, as described above five times.

And for the fifth time, we must accept God chose a method and used it. We must accept that from your agnostic viewpoint, God is illogical, because He didn't do it the way you think He should have done it, all from your humanistic logic about Him.