tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post8887183945684257808..comments2024-03-27T17:15:37.606-04:00Comments on Triablogue: Is mass extinction consistent with divine planning?Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17809283662428917799noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-116185210375277502015-10-14T02:29:27.317-04:002015-10-14T02:29:27.317-04:00Steve already wrote enough to address the stupid a...Steve already wrote enough to address the stupid atheistic objection. Here are my minor supplementary comments.<br /><br />Whenever I hear the claim that long ages of mass extinction prior to the appearance of Man is inconsistent with divine planning, it makes me think of people who complain about movie Overtures (e.g. <a href="https://youtu.be/dApIMjrn2Vg" rel="nofollow">Ben Hur</a>'s). As if they don't contribute to the main story. Sorry, to disappoint you atheists, but God didn't create the universe and Earth primarily for your enjoyment and egocentric interests. God did so for His own enjoyment, for historical, providential and scientific purposes, as well as the enjoyment of angels and elect humanity. Speaking from an OEC view, God enjoyed the life cycles of species. Their emergence and replacement. There were teraforming and ecology forming purposes for the various species when, where and how long they existed. The accumulated death of some species was essential for the production (via secondary causes) of fossil fuels which God providentially planned man would take advantage of to build civilization in the future.<br /><br />As an artist, why would God need to keep every species alive? Even human artists don't keep every work of art they create (e.g. their 1st grade drawing of their pet dog). In fact, some artists intentionally destroy their works of art for various rational and irrational reasons. Some even eat them. We've all made edible art (think of the last time you made a face using breakfast food, or of the beauty of a wedding cake). <br /><br />A scientific reason God made have allowed mass extinction is to give something humans to do. Many Christian theologians believe in a Cultural Mandate that includes growth in scientific knowledge and application for man's good and God's greater glory. There are scientific lessons we probably wouldn't have learned apart from mass extinction and long ages. Also, we wouldn't appreciate the relatively stable environment we've enjoyed these past tens of thousands of years which fortuitously (by God's providence) allowed human civilization to rise to the level it has. <br /><br />Interestingly, we also live in that small window of cosomic time that allows we humans (via astrophysicists and cosmologists) to see/speculate/theorize more accurately into the past and future than at any other point. Any sooner or later and we'd forever be left into the dark regarding cosmic beginnings and ending. ANNOYED PINOYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00714774340084597206noreply@blogger.com