Great conversation about the GAE, but also ID and why God might use evolution. One of the hosts told me afterwards that the conversation left him far more open to evolution than when we began.
I liked Otangeloâs âquestionâ for just how incredibly⌠far out it is, and that you managed to characterize it as ânot even true exactlyâ. 
How does one even come up with a âquestionâ like this?
3.5 million times 365 days times 24 hours times 3500 mutations is 107 trillion 310 billion mutations.
Never mind the galactic absurdity of his numbers, one wonders how Otangelo even obtains a relationship between brain size and mutation count.
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Yeah that was a remarkable question. I hope my answer was clear the the listeners.
I understood it, I canât speak for anyone else of course.
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rock star photo, keep itâŚ
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I havenât watched it, but hopefully the answer was âBecause God is smart and evolution is awesome.â
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You got hit with a lot of good questions. Interesting discussion on image of God and abilities versus vocation.
We have very divergent views on death. There is joy in life in spite of suffering and death - but an atheist could make the same argument against nihilism.
I see death and evil as closely linked. Just as I see evil and hell closely linked
When we elevate our knowledge above what God says is good, God doesnât just give a punishment that leads to death - I see it as automatic consequence. Built in. I donât know how to state that in a philosophically correct way.
Proverbs 14:12: There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 14:27; The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,
To turn one away from the snares of death.
I see these proverbs below also as closely linking spiritual death, physical death and sin.
Proverbs 14
The merciful man does good for his own soul,
But he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.
18 The wicked man does deceptive work,
But he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward.
19 As righteousness leads to life,
So he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death.
20 Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the Lord,
But the blameless in their ways are His delight.
21 Though they join [g]forces, the wicked will not go unpunished;
But the posterity of the righteous will be delivered.
Iâm not sure how I argue that God is good with the flood or with His commands if I believed differently. If ânaturalâ death is seen as good, anytime God commands to end life âearly,â an atheist says that is âbadâ similar to what @John_Harshman has argued with me. I see it all as the result of sin that God punishes because he is a good, just God. If I donât, then I think the atheist actually has a good point that Godâs goodness is arbitrary.
Either way, if someone doesnât want to believe, they will always find an excuse, but I donât actually want to concede the atheistâs point about a loving God allowing suffering and death personally, because I just donât think itâs true that it is possible without human sin.
I had other comments on animal death, but theyâre probably better on the threads already started.