David's theory of evolution (Evolution)

by dhw, Thursday, October 31, 2019, 11:18 (1848 days ago) @ David Turell

I have offered theistic alternatives to David’s anthropocentric theory (summarized below), explaining the higgledy-piggledy non-human bush of life: a) that God (if he exists) designed all the different life forms for his own enjoyment, or (b) he was experimenting in order to create a being like himself.

dhw: You did not explain why the above alternatives were anathema to you.

DAVID: They are humanized versions of how God might think or express purposes, as I implied.

And you have also agreed that your God “very well could think like us”, which means that my alternatives “very well” could be as valid as your own fixed belief, which is only logical “if one does not apply human reasoning to the actual history”.

DAVID: Your usual reply. You recognize our specialness by giving it lip service, and then forget how different we really are. Evolution as a natural event does not explain our arrival. We were designed.

dhw: Of course I don’t forget it. Nor do I forget the billions of other life forms, lifestyles and natural wonders, every one of which you tell us had to be specially designed by your God. And I don’t forget that the reason why you think he had to specially design them all was that he decided not to fulfil his one and only purpose for 3.X billion years etc., and you have no idea why, but it’s logical so long as we do not apply human logic to the history.

DAVID: You have distorted my thinking as usual.

dhw: If you think the above is a distortion of your thinking, then please tell us precisely which points you disown, and I will produce the relevant quote in your very own words.

DAVID: You know full well the bush of life is required to maintain all of life's energy sources, and if God decided to evolve man from bacteria, we know the exact time it took. You continually debate God's choice of method, which implies you wonder why He waited and didn't just do direct creation as in Genesis. I don't do that. i just look at the history of his works. Fully logical, while you conjure up woolly possibilities, while you cannot possibly know how He thinks.

You don’t "just look at the history", you acknowledge that your interpretation of that history defies human logic, and you agree that my very precise alternatives are logical. Nobody can know how he thinks, which is why I offer various alternatives. You have accused me of distorting your thinking. Please tell me which of these points is a distortion:
1) You believe that your God specially designed every single new life form, lifestyle and natural wonder in the history of life.
2) His one and only purpose was to design H. sapiens.
3) He decided to delay fulfilling that purpose for 3.X billion years and therefore had to design the whole preceding bush of life in order to cover the time he had decided to take.
4) You have no idea why he decided to delay fulfilling his purpose for 3.X billion years.
5) Your explanation is perfectly logical, so long as we do not apply our human logic to the actual history of life.