dhw: I am happy to agree with you and Hoyle that chance is illogical. Now look at your explanation: only a living, conscious mind can design life and consciousness, and therefore our life and consciousness were designed by a living, conscious mind which was not designed by anything at all. Logical?

DAVID: You deny a first cause, which is not logical.

dhw: I have never denied a first cause! I have listed three possible first causes (your God, chance, and some form of panpsychism) but find none of them convincing enough to take a leap of faith. Now please explain the logic of your bolded theory above.

DAVID: The usual: nothing never produces something. Therefore, as you agree, there must be a first cause. Of your three possibilities, chance is impossible because of the complexities in living biology and panpsychism is a woolly mind-like theory, so why not stick to the obvious: the necessity of an eternal planning mind?

Why won’t you explain the logic behind the “mind” theory bolded above, which is no less woolly than the woolly “mind-like” theory?