Theodicy: solution lies in definition of God (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, September 10, 2021, 17:06 (958 days ago) @ dhw
edited by David Turell, Friday, September 10, 2021, 17:12

dhw: […] You are always saying that a God who experiments, gets new ideas, wants a free-for-all etc. is “weak” and “namby-pamby”, but frankly a God who designs a system with errors that he is incapable of controlling seems a little odd for a God who is all-powerful and all-knowing.

DAVID: The system comes with mistakes as we agree. I'll stick with my statement above, not your skewed take.

dhw: Your statement above tells us that mistakes are exceedingly rare. Please tell us what “exceedingly rare” awful diseases are caused by the errors in your God’s design, and please tell us what is “skewed” in my take.

DAVID: I don't have any figures of incidence, but from my thirty + years of medical practice I saw almost none. Read about them, in the medical journals to be aware.

dhw: I am clearly out of touch, then. I thought cancer was one of the diseases that was caused by disorder among cells (= errors in the system). And do please tell me what was “skewed” in the bolded sentence above.

DAVID: I wasn't thinking of cancer, which I know caused your wife's death and makes you sensitive to that issue. Cancer is the result of mistakes in the fact that we are constantly reproducing ourselves, part of our system of enjoying life.

dhw: Sorry, but this sounds to me like a disease caused by mistakes in the system. "Exceedingly rare"?

Considering the constant turnover of living cells, even the mistakes that lead to cancer are the result of rare errors in the system.

DAVID: The skew is your constant negative take on God. We are here, discussing, the best system He could produce. I think it is the only way it can work. Not that God is limited, just that nothing better can be created.

dhw: We are talking about theodicy – the question of why “bad” exists in a world created by a God who is said to be all “good”. You yourself introduced the subject of “mistakes” in the system (just one of many types of “bad” – you also have him deliberately designing murderous bacteria and viruses) – and then you moan because I raise the subject of “bad”! Of course you are limiting your God! You even claim that he tries to correct the errors but sometimes fails and so has left it to us to find ways of doing what he couldn’t do!

Exactly. God knew errors would happen and designed very careful but not perfect editing systems. Your extreme negativity toward God shows clearly. Of course I introduced the issue of theodicy, which is evidence it doesn't turn me against God. God initiated life with the best system available that could be designed. It must use molecules that change shape to perform differing functions, responding to forces to do so. Under that high speed system mistakes can happen.