[OT] Plato's Pub and Philosophical Society

[QuarianRex]

Originally posted by Krsqk:
1)There are more efficient means to create, such as creating things the way you want them right off the bat; 2)No God who cares about His creation would use death as a means to accomplish it. That is not the God of the Bible; and if such a God is responsible for creating the world in such a manner, He may as well be a natural force. He is not interested in the plight of the puny inhabitants on the earth; we are no more than pawns to fulfill the designs of creation (and let's not be arrogant and assume we're the culmination of all life).

1) Not necessarily. One thing that we are learning right now in AI (actual AI's, not game AI's and such) creation is that it is usually more efficient to create something capable of learning what you want it to know than to just program it with that knowledge. Perhaps it is the same on the spiritual level. And perhaps god wants us to earn our destiny rather than hand it to us. Both views would allow for natural selection.

2) As has been stated before, God can be a mean s.o.b., fully capable of allowing (and instigating) large-scale rape, slaughter, slavery, etc. That is the God of the bible. However, I don't think that that was what you were refering to. I think you meant that you cannot see god as being indifferent to his own creation. Just because he doesn't directly meddle doesn't mean that he doesn't care. Think of it in the terms of being a parent. When the kids leave home you have to allow them to make their own mistakes. You can't step in every time you see danger. Childhood is over. You can provide moral support, give a houewarming plant (even if it is on fire), and leave some reminder notes (a commandment or two etched on stone) but for the most part you have to stay out of it. This is especially true when your children are not your equal, when you presence will reduce them into a state of childhood. You want them to do the right thing for their own reasons not because you are standing right behind them. Leaving things alone is the only way to allow freedom of choice, the only way to develop a sense of morality. You see, direct divine meddling, the standard creationist viewpoint, may actually be against the desires of god.