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

by dhw, Saturday, June 04, 2022, 08:27 (901 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: The obvious connnection is the process of evoution, which God chose to use. He didn't tell any of us why. Remember, I view God in charge of all creation, including from bacteria to us. [...]

dhw: If God exists, then of course he chose to “use” the process of evolution! How does that come to mean that his one and only purpose was to design us and our foods, and so he deliberately designed countless life forms and foods that had no connection with us? He could have chosen to use the process of evolution because he enjoyed creating different life forms, or he enjoyed watching all the different products of his original invention (the living cell), or because he had an idea (to create a being able to worship him) and tried all kinds of experiments, or he kept getting new ideas….Who knows?

DAVID: No one knows. We all have interpretations, but yours are highly humanizing.

Please stop flogging the dead horse. You have agreed that there is a 50/50 chance (originally you actually said “probably”, which is more than 50/50) that your God has patterns of thought and emotions similar to ours. But in any case, attacking my alternatives does not alter the fact that even you cannot find a logical explanation for your theories concerning purpose and methodology.

dhw: You accept your own theory that his sole “desire” was to design us and our food and therefore he designed all the species and foods that had no connection with us; and you accept your own theory that he was perfectly capable of designing species with no precursors and yet decided to design in stages the only species he wanted to create (plus its food). And it makes perfect sense to you that only your God can make sense of your illogical theories.

DAVID: If you could only come to the realization my explantions make perfect sense to many folks who believe as in ID.

ID makes perfect sense, but you keep admitting that even you can't explain your combination of evolutionary theories. Only God can!

DAVID: It is easy to simply accept God's choices of methodology.

Your theories are not GOD’s choice of purpose or methodology, but YOUR interpretation – and I have offered alternative interpretations. Please stop pretending that your interpretation is an objective truth.

DAVID: There is no evidence that is absolute proof, but I'll take Adler's proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

dhw: Adler’s “proof” concerned the existence of God, not the possibility that God had thought patterns and emotions similar to ours. Please stop dodging and please stop trying to hide behind Adler.

DAVID: I'm not hiding behind Adler. I follow his insructions as to "How to think about God". Did you have any instructors to guide your thinking?

Once more, you totally ignore the fact that you have dodged the issue we were discussing, which was God’s thought patterns etc. and not the existence of God. I’ll take the bait, though. If you’re following Adler’s instructions, then you’re making out that all your illogical ideas are actually his. As for “instructions” on how to think about God, I cannot imagine anything more presumptuous than a human being pretending he knows the “right” way. The history of religions past and present should be enough to tell you how absurd and also how damaging such pretences can be. You have agreed that all my alternatives fit logically into the history of life. Your combined theories don't, and only God can explain them. Or maybe one or more of your theories could be wrong.