Back to David's theory of evolution (Evolution)

by David Turell , Saturday, September 05, 2020, 18:45 (1538 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: As usual, you pick on ONE premise and ignore all the others which in combination make your theory illogical. Must I keep repeating the problem? If God exists, I have no trouble at all in accepting that he chose to evolve us. I have trouble accepting that “evolve” means “directly design”, that your always-in-control God’s only purpose was to directly design us, but instead….as bolded above. You know you are dodging the issue, so please stop doing so.

Of course you are not required to accept my thoughts! I firmly believe God designed all stages of evolution and I know you don't accept that. That doesn't mean I'm dodging. I'm sticking to my conclusions. I'm only dodging hour attempts at persuading me to change. I won't.

dhw: …why do you think the slingshot spider is “part of the goal of evolving humans”? Do you think our species and our food supply would die out if this one particular variety of spider went extinct? Why do you think that every extinct species and every current species and variation within species had to be specially designed in order that God could specially design H. sapiens?

DAVID: Explained over and over: every ecosystem is important to the functioning of the entire bush of life.

dhw: That is no answer! How can 3.X thousand million years’ worth of long gone life forms and food supplies be important to the functioning of our current life forms and food supplies? And please tell me if you think our species and food supply depend on the existence of the specially designed slingshot spider.

DAVID: All ecosystems are intertwined, with evidence presented over an over.

dhw: More fudge! What do you mean by “all”? Every individual ecosystem is a collection of intertwined forms of life. But do you really believe that every individual ecosystem that ever existed in the whole history of life on Earth is/was intertwined with every other individual ecosystem that ever existed throughout the whole history of life on Earth from the beginning through to today?

The individual systems interlock, always did.

Under "The dodder plant"
DAVID: The real issue For me is how did this strange parasite appear in the first place, if it always requires an existing host plant. Design required.

dhw: As above. I would say the real issue is why you think your God directly designed this strange parasite if his only purpose was to design humans and their food supply. Do you think we’ll go extinct if the dodder disappears?

You are inventing direct relationships that are silly and don't exist.

dhw: All our theories are human guesswork, and if we shouldn’t bother to ask why God wanted to produce H. sapiens, why did you bother to propose a theory that his only purpose was to produce H. sapiens? [...]>

DAVID: We have bothered multiple times. Since it is all guesswork it doesn't produce anything substantive.

dhw: Hence my agnosticism. But as you say, we are both equals, because we are both so fascinated by the mysteries that in company with millions of other humans down through the ages, we try to make sense of life and the universe. That is why I started this website, you wrote your books, and both of us have engaged in these discussions for over twelve years. It’s a bit late in the day to say we shouldn’t bother!

DAVID: I follow Adler's argument that we are the main purpose. That won't change.

dhw: What does that have to do with your telling me we should not bother about your purposeful God’s purposes (apart from designing us) because they are all guesswork (as is the belief that his only purpose was to design us)?

You invent discussions about God's reasons behind His purposes when all we can do guess. In the past we have covered every possibility, especially the ones that you use to humanize God.