Return to David's theory of evolution PARTS 1 & 2 (Evolution)

by dhw, Friday, March 25, 2022, 08:02 (972 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: You claimed…that your theory of evolution made sense to you. And yet you cannot explain it, and it only makes sense to God. So how can it make sense to you?

DAVID: Exactly!!! We cannot know why God thought to do anything. We can assume and guess from His demonstrated works logically. But still the basis will depend upon how one views God's personality which brings us to His possible personal desires for himself. We differ widely.

dhw: Yes, we can all have different views, but the fact remains that your theory/guess doesn’t make sense to you! Don’t you think a theory that makes sense to you might have a better chance of being true than a theory that doesn’t make sense to you?

DAVID: It makes total sense to me. The explanation is God chose to evolve us. How evolution was conducted, as seen in history, makes perfect sense with my views of God's personality.

That is not an explanation of your theory, which is that God’s only purpose was to design us and our foods, and so he designed countless life forms and foods that had no connection with us. You tell me that only God can explain it, so why do you keep leaving out the bits you can’t explain?

DAVID: 'Species' is the phenotypical aspect of evolution, not the biochemical. Evolution is both.

dhw: All life is biochemical, and all species develop from phenotypical changes. That does not mean all extinct phenotypical changes were “part of the goal of evolving humans” plus food. If you claim that certain species appeared without any precursors, that means there was no direct line between them and any preceding species, so if humans were descended from them, it cannot be said that all pre-Cambrian species were preparation for, and part of the goal of evolving humans and their food. Your answer is that only God can explain these theories. I suggest that maybe your theories have one or more flaws in them.

DAVID: The gaps support the need to recognize a designer. Only He can create gaps in phenotypical forms on the way to creating humans.

For argument’s sake, I am accepting the case for a designer. I have focused on the illogical beliefs summarized above. Please stop dodging.

dhw: I have a very good friend, a panentheist, who has studied book after book telling him how to think about God, and leaving him with theories which make no sense even to him.

DAVID: Can't we please allow me to make perfect sense to me? That you can't see it is your very nearsighted problem.

How can I possibly accept that your theory makes perfect sense to you when you tell me that only God can make sense of it?

DAVID: An article on God's warring animals:
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/deer-have-antlers-walruses-have-tusks-her...
DAVID: in evolution competition is built in. So there has to be evolutionary 'war'.

You keep telling me about what exists – evolutionary war. And I keep asking you why you think your God chose to create a system of warlike competition when we know that peaceful cooperation is perfectly possible, as exemplified by all forms of symbiosis. […]

DAVID: […] You've forgotten your adherence to natural selection, Darwin's favorite! Doesn't it require competition? Ruminants eat and damage foliage, and so do insects on leaves! And all animals from bacteria to use eat animals. All to get required energy. I cannot imagine a totally pacifistic form of life.

And still you tell me about the war your God designed, and refuse to tell me why you think he chose war over peace. Do you think God is incapable of providing leaves that don’t fight back and that have no feelings – you, who refuse to believe that cells are sentient beings and not automatons? The fact that you can’t imagine a system in which life forms cooperate in finding energy without killing one another to get it doesn’t say much for your imagination.

BLOOD BRAIN BARRIER CONTROLS (transferred from “cellular intelligence”)

dhw: You have pooh-poohed the worldwide tragedy of Covid-19 as media hype, defended your theory that God deliberately designed “bad” bacteria and viruses, want us to focus on all the goodies and, despite your vast knowledge of books that tell you how to think for yourself about God, you can’t answer a straight question. I have offered you a possible answer, but you’ve forgotten it or you simply want to shut it out because you don’t like it. No point in going through the details, as three words will bring it all back to you: “free-for-all”.

DAVID: See above about pacifism possible when we are required to eat. We are also required to undergo epidemics and pandemics as part of the war. Haven't you noticed the media loves to frighten us so we pay more ate4ntion to their stories? Your Guardian is a prime example. I never shut out your weird view of God, as I work to show you how wrong you are.

I know pandemics are part of the war, and I keep asking you why your God chose war over peace. Why does this question denote a weird view of God? If anything, I’d have thought a “kind” God (your word) who deliberately created a system of survival through bloodshed and disease was weird.