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Creationists: How does creation explain the existence of parasites?

Oompa Loompa

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It helps feed the birds by forcing the snails to become easy zombified prey. There, that wasn't so difficult.
 
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pitabread

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It helps feed the birds by forcing the snails to become easy zombified prey. There, that wasn't so difficult.

Again, the snails aren't the prey. The broodsacs are.

The snails simply get maimed in the process.
 
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Oompa Loompa

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Again, the snails aren't the prey. The broodsacs are.

The snails simply get maimed in the process.
And the birds get fed. The bird doesn't usually eat just the eyes and leave the rest. Usually they eat the entire snale. Why? Because they are hungry. Are the birds in any way harmed by the parasite?
 
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pitabread

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Usually they eat the entire snale.

Do you have a citation for this? From what I've read, the birds specifically go after the broodsacs (which are designed to mimic crawling insects) and generally rip them from the snails.

Besides which the birds already have natural prey (insects), so why the need to specifically mind-control snails for that purpose?
 
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Oompa Loompa

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Do you have a citation for this? From what I've read, the birds specifically go after the broodsacs (which are designed to mimic crawling insects) and generally rip them from the snails.
Birds in general eat entire snails. The birds that are attracted to the parasite are drawn to them because the worm resembles a maggot. Regardless if the bird eats just the worm or the entire snail, the bird received some nutritional value and benefits from this life cycle. Not to mention the other critters who benefit from the rest of the snail left by the bird.
 
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pitabread

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I'll ask again, do you have a citation that birds are typically eating the entire snails in the case of this parasite?

I'm not asking for your opinion here; I'm asking for external support for this claim.

And as I said in my edited posts, there are already organisms that provide food for birds. Why the need for this particular parasite? And why the need to involve snails in its lifecycle?
 
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AV1611VET

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Why the need for this particular parasite? And why the need to involve snails in its lifecycle?
Perhaps they add to the flavor of escargot?
 
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Oompa Loompa

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I said birds in general eat entire snails. Here is one such example.

But this is irrelevant to the point. It doesn't matter if the bird eats the whole snail or just the parasite worm. The point is that the bird only benefits in this life cycle.
 
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coffee4u

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We believe this world existed only because we have faith in God and by extension of that, his word.

But you may as well be asking how a life cycle works on a planet that no one has visited but has some scant knowledge about.
We can make guesses, that is all.

If it wasn't feeding off the shell or trail perhaps it was helpful internally. I have read that intestinal parasites such as tapeworms, hookworms can be beneficial to human health. So maybe it was similar. I am merely throwing these out as ideas. Whatever its original purpose was, that was changed and corrupted.
 
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Subduction Zone

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I said birds in general eat entire snails. Here is one such example.

But this is irrelevant to the point. It doesn't matter if the bird eats the whole snail or just the parasite worm. The point is that the bird only benefits in this life cycle.
That does not show that birds in general eat entire prey animals. If there is a large source of food animals tend to be picky in which parts that they eat. If there is a limited supply of food they will tend to eat more of it. This short video explains, in this case emphasizing when animals eat only parts of prey:

 
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pitabread

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We believe this world existed only because we have faith in God and by extension of that, his word.

Everyone has a different take on that though. So faith in God / god's word doesn't exactly give us much to go by here.

The question is whether we have a method to test competing ideas and determine which idea might be the correct idea.

But you may as well be asking how a life cycle works on a planet that no one has visited but has some scant knowledge about.
We can make guesses, that is all.

How would we test those guesses?


How do we distinguish between its original purpose versus the purported corruption? Is there anything we can look for to determine what that change was?
 
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pitabread

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But this is irrelevant to the point. It doesn't matter if the bird eats the whole snail or just the parasite worm. The point is that the bird only benefits in this life cycle.

If I accept that this was done for the sole benefit of birds, it still begs the question as to why the parasite requires such an overly complicated life cycle or even exist in the first place?

There are simpler ways of feeding birds that don't necessarily involve the potential maiming of other organisms.
 
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coffee4u

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I know it's not much to go by. That is why I suggested looking at beneficial bacteria or other similar cycles that are of benefit to all the parties involved. I am sure there are some.

Imagine for one moment that a planet is found like that, how would you test it? I doubt you could, not without going there.
 
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DamianWarS

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this tends to look at creation and God as one-dimensional (the 1D being a strictly literal view). granted it doesn't fit in a literal interpretation of Genesis so you win if that's the goal but then I don't think a literal reading of Genesis was ever the goal of Genesis. the bible's goal is not to unpack the science behind everything it is there to point to spiritual truth. Armed with this knowledge, we can apply biblical truth to this parasite by way of the fall as the fall brings into this world death and destruction (similar to the parasite) that God provides a way to be rescued from and this example of the snail could serve as a metaphor for this system (we are the snail, the parasite is the sin and the bird is the final judgment of that sin). But how it literally fits in would miss the point. What does this mean if we are to accept theistic evolution? it means God is highly complex and the salvation he offers is not extended to snails. It may also point to a purpose of the snail/parasite is to feed the bird. Death is a part of the system not a conflict to it unless you forgot Christians embrace death and suffering as an integral part of salvation.
 
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