Theodicy (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, November 19, 2020, 15:20 (1463 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Same old problem: The bolded quote could mean His interest is at the one percent level, since we have no way of knowing the truth!!! And the only belief I have about his thought patterns is the use of logic. Please accept that and stop dredging up the past misunderstanding.

dhw: And since we have no way of knowing the truth, we offer theories. You have kindly informed us that you are sure he sees what is going on (which I suggest means that he is looking at it, not just catching a glimpse out of the corner of his immaterial eye), and if his level of interest might be one per cent, it might also be one hundred per cent, so why dismiss the theory? Ditto with your acceptance that your God probably has thought patterns, emotions and logic similar to ours. There is no “past misunderstanding”. If he probably has all this, it is absurd to dismiss a theory because you don’t believe he might have what he probably has.

The problem is we do not know anything about God except His works. My view of His possible personality is definitely not yours, but I agree some form of His personality is correct.

DAVID: You have no idea where errors might exist in your thoughts or mine.

dhw: True. I offer a variety of explanations. I do not insist on the truth of any of them. You have one illogical explanation for evolution and none for theodicy, which you consider from only one point of view (your God is always in control, and therefore must have deliberately created the bad bugs), which leaves you flummoxed. But you claim your theories are without errors.

I've never claimed without errors. We both have them in theories as stated just above.

DAVID: Both our theories are based on logical interpretations colored by our background scholarships.

dhw: I have pointed out the illogicality of your overall theory of evolution on the “error corrections” thread. On this thread, you have offered no logical interpretation of theodicy.

No I haven't. What I have said is what we think are errors may not be in God's eye.

DAVID: As for my theory of evolution I have pointed out your constant errors in interpreting my theory as demanding 'direct creation of humans'. God chose to evolve us over time. Live with it. History doesn't lie.

dhw: Your twist concerning “direct creation” is dealt with comprehensively on the “error correction” thread.

Not in my view. God chose to design evolution as a method of creating humans, as history tells us.