Natures wonders: ants and other insects farm (Introduction)

by dhw, Wednesday, May 27, 2020, 11:06 (1431 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: I suppose I shouldn't ask again why you think he created billions of galaxies and solar systems extant and extinct when his sole purpose was Earth and H. sapiens.

DAVID: You can ask. I've answered many times. He had to evolve this universe as He evolved everything subsequent, to produce this exact galaxy, which grew by eating many small galaxies so this one could be large enough to tuck our special Earth far enough out to be safe.

So how does that explain the billions of long gone galaxies and solar systems which he “evolved” (= specially designed in your vocabulary) for the sole purpose of producing ours for the sole purpose of producing Earth for the sole purpose of producing H. sapiens?

Dhw: you yourself have no idea why he chose to “evolve” (your term for directly design) the only species he wanted to design by first “evolving” (directly designing) anything but the only species he wanted to design. You accept all my alternative explanations of life’s history as being logical, and have even accepted the principle whereby he may set evolutionary processes in motion and let them continue, but you reject them all on the grounds that a God who probably has thought patterns similar to ours cannot possibly have thought patterns similar to ours.

DAVID: [...] The evidence for God using evolution as his preferred process is obvious in history.

With my theist hat on, I agree.

DAVID: The universe appeared and then evolved. The Milky Way galaxy appeared and then evolved by growing large enough. The Earth appeared and then evolved. Life appeared and then evolved.

Agreed. Our basic disagreement begins at this point, but as usual you simply ignore the whole subject of that disagreement as bolded yet again above and below.

DAVID: From the beginning all of it was in the direction of more complexity. That is 'directionality', all following God's purposes. My God knows what He is doing at the beginning of each stage.

Not clear why the billions of galaxies and solar systems extant and extinct are more complex now than they were in the past.

DAVID (referring to experimentation and/or new ideas): The bold is a humanized god plodding along, not sure of where he is headed. NOT MY GOD!!! I don't know God's reasons for this method and, guess what, I don't care! As for His reasoning capacity He is logical like we are, but I know nothing more of His thinking.

It is not the reason for using the method of evolution that is in dispute! The dispute, yet again, is over the COMBINATION of your three rigid beliefs concerning God’s nature (all-powerful, all-controlling), purpose (only to create H. sapiens, which he could have done any way he liked) and method of achieving that purpose (directly designing millions of extinct non-human life forms, lifestyles, natural wonders etc. before directly designing the only thing he wanted to design). If, as you suppose, he is logical like we are, the illogicality of this combination of beliefs can only mean that one or other or all of them are wrong.

Under “brain expansion”:
dhw: Back we go to your theory of evolution and your three rigid and irreconcilable beliefs: (1) all-knowing, all-powerful God, 2) only purpose H. sapiens, 3) designs millions of non-human life forms, natural wonders etc. before designing only species he wants to design.[/b]

DAVID: Not irreconcilable to me. God chose to evolve from bacteria and you've stated He could chose that approach, so what is your problem? Obviously you don't like His choice.

None of this is a problem. As above, now for the fourth time in this post, the problem is that according to you he chose to directly design millions of non-human life forms etc. before directly designing the only thing he wanted to design. Why do you keep skipping the whole subject of our disagreement?