Theodicy: solution lies in definition of God (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, September 18, 2021, 15:46 (1163 days ago) @ dhw

Protection from mutations

DAVID: You forget God recognized the possible error problem and our biochemical system is full of constant editing systems.

dhw: If he designed a system which produced errors which he didn’t want and tried (often unsuccessfully) to “edit”, then clearly he was not in control. I simply suggest that rather than the incompetent designer who can’t control his invention, your God might deliberately have designed the system so that it would produce errors.

Same distorted take. God tried to protect the system from errors. Your bold means God knew errors were coming, but the only system He could invent had to allow them. Often unsuccessfully ( in red) shows how much you misunderstand how living biochemistry works. Extremely rare errors build up over time to give the appearance of common.

DAVID: Conclusion: God wanted a controlled system. You would not be your age if your body ran by free-for-all.

dhw: Millions of people fail to reach my age, and in any case, unless I am killed by accident or by an irate contributor to this website, my death will eventually be due to some kind of “error” in the system. So maybe your God designed the system to ensure that I did not live for ever as the handsome, dashing young man I wish I had once been!

Your Ashkanazic genes gave you your age, and you die from built-in aging primarily.

DAVID: My God fits logical conclusions from His works.

dhw: Your guesses include thought patterns similar to ours, enjoyment of creation, watching his creations with interest, wanting us to recognize his work, and wanting a relationship with him. Why do you try to dismiss them all when I use them to link his works to his purpose?

DAVID: Guesswork about God is just that, guesses as to His real reasons.

dhw: Yes indeed, and I have quoted your guesses and logically linked them to his purposes, whereupon you try to dismiss your own guesses because you don’t like their logical implications.

Guesswork does no t make logic.

DAVID: Why can't you accept that point that God chose to evolve us from bacteria over a long time. It is entirely logical to me. Your illogical complaint escapes me.

dhw: What you desperately try to escape from is your fixed belief that your God deliberately designed the “evolution” of ALL life forms from bacteria, including countless life forms that had no connection with humans (plus food), although his one and only purpose was to design humans (plus food). Please stop editing your theory in order to leave out its illogical components.

DAVID: God chose to evolve us from bacteria, His obvious choice from the history He created. And I cannot know why He made that choice, but we both guess at it.

dhw: And so yet again you edit your theory in order to leave out the bolded combination of premises that make it illogical.

Nothing is edited in the statement God chose to evolve us from bacteria over time.