Return to David's theory of evolution PART TWO (Evolution)

by dhw, Saturday, June 03, 2023, 08:09 (329 days ago) @ dhw

PART TWO

DAVID: So the answer is your know-nothing God went on creating evolution without realizing the consequences of His actions.

dhw: Not being all-knowing does not mean knowing nothing! Our subject is theodicy here – why he created the various “evils” in the first place. Of course he would eventually see the effects of all his experiments. That is what gives rise to the second question: why doesn’t he step in and stop it?

DAVID: The writers of the Bible thought He stepped in at times. But we are now non-Biblical, and we still have free-will and Putin. Would your guy step in?

The question is pointless. My guy hasn’t stepped in, so we can only ask why.

dhw: […] We don’t know why, but I’ve offered a little list of possibilities. Once again, the question is why he created it [“evil”] in the first place.

DAVID: We are back to He wanted to for His own reasons.

A God who wanted to create evil would be a sadist.

DAVID: At the level of evolution, He is a complete stupid dud.

dhw: In your version he is messy, cumbersome, inefficient and sadistic. In mine, he conducts successful experiments (every living form is a success) or he creates a free-for-all. In none of these scenarios does he deliberately and knowingly create evil. Why does that make him a stupid dud?

Not answered.

DAVID: how does your guy handle the arrival of evil?

He doesn’t. He has not stepped in. And I gave you a list of possible reasons, which you obviously didn’t read: “Maybe he doesn’t exist, maybe he can’t, maybe he enjoys the show, maybe he’s abandoned it, maybe he’s dead.”

DAVID: How did your God invent the universe, the perfect Earth fit for life, and make life itself, if He didn't know the consequences of His designs.

dhw: In the same way as humans (he and we have thought patterns in common, remember?) come up with wonderful inventions and discoveries, and then become aware of later effects they never dreamt of. Think of the motor car, smoking, industrial pollution, climate change, nuclear weapons, AI, germ warfare etc. But you insist that your God is all-powerful and all-knowing. So perhaps you will tell us why he carried on if he already knew the consequences in advance?

Not answered.

DAVID: He is letting humans handle their own affairs. What would your guy do?

The same as yours. And one of my theories is that he let all forms of life handle their own affairs, but for some reason you can’t stand the thought of a free-for-all unless it’s exclusively for humans.

DAVID: He is OK until He has to evolve life and then falls apart. No wonder you don't really believe in Him.

dhw: You already have him using a messy, cumbersome and inefficient method to achieve the goal you set him, and with your insistence on his omniscience, you now have him deliberately and sadistically creating evil. Successful experiments and a successful free-for-all do not denote a God falling apart. They only denote a God with a different purpose from yours and different methods of achieving his purpose. And please don’t fall back on my agnosticism as a defence of your derogatory picture of your God.

DAVID: Your guy saw the same appearance of evil. What did He do?

I’ve told you. He did nothing. That doesn’t explain why your inefficient, sadistic God, who deliberately created 99 out of 100 irrelevant life forms, and deliberately created evil, is more godlike than my highly successful alternative versions, who enjoyed experimenting, learning and discovering, and who did not deliberately set out to create the forces of “evil”.