Divine purposes and methods (Evolution)

by David Turell @, Saturday, January 12, 2019, 18:55 (1892 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: I read God’s mind logically.

dhw: The only facts are that life’s history has produced the diverse bush of species, and H. sapiens is the latest. You don’t question your personal assumptions that your God exists, and if he does, that he is in total control, that his goal from the beginning was to specially design you and me, and that his method was to spend 3.5+ billion years specially designing millions of other life forms so that they could eat one another. You don’t understand the methodology you have imposed on him, since it seems to contradict the total control and single goal you have also imposed on him, and yet it is not illogical to you. Your human reasoning leads you to reject my logical alternatives because we mustn’t “humanize” God by trying to read his mind – although it’s OK for you to do so – and God’s logic is different from ours (as if you knew). Maybe it isn’t!

DAVID: You are sitting on the outside of faith looking in. Why should I question my belief God exists? That is your problem, not mine.

dhw: I’m not asking you to question it. I’m simply pointing out that the existence of God – let alone your personal reading of his mind - is not a fact.

Exactly the point. I am looking at God through logically established faith, and you aren't'.


DAVID: I didn't impose a method on Him. He chose to evolve humans over time. That is the history. I accept it.

dhw: You “accept” your own non-factual assumption that his goal from the beginning was us, that he was in total control, that his chosen method of specially designing humans was to take 3.5+ billion years specially designing all those other life forms so that they could eat one another, and you also “accept” that you cannot understand why he would choose the method you have read into his mind. And yet you regard this as a logical reading!

Human are here, but they are not His current goal? What fact are you looking for? The balance of nature food supply is obvious. It is His chosen method not mine. Why should I question it? I'm simply interpreting the facts that exist. I'm sorry for your confusion. Accept 'Dayenu'. He did it, and it is enough.


DAVID: 'Total control' means He has the right to chose His preferred method. I don't have to know the background of His logic. He has the right to choose His method. His logic might be like ours or different. No one knows.

dhw: So once more: if no one knows, why do you insist that YOUR illogical account is correct, in which YOUR idea of his purpose by your own admission makes YOUR idea of his method incomprehensible even to you?

We've crossed this bridge many times. It is not incomprehensible to me. You are imposing your confused thoughts on my conscious mental process. I'm not supposed to know why He chose the method He did. Since He chose to evolve us over time, my interpretation fits the facts in history.


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