Creationists: How does creation explain the existence of parasites?

[Job 33:6]

That's going to be hard, fourm rules are pretty strict about what we are allowed to talk about, even more so if you don't fit into Christianity. I'm not sure a topic about scripture not from a YEC perspective would survive. It's not like were allowed to debate scripture in detail.

Well here we are. So far so good. Looks for responses*

 

[FredVB]

Before responding, please read this Wikipedia page on the Leucochloridium paradoxum - Wikipedia. A few responses so far don't seem to understand exactly what this organism's lifecycle really entails.

Many parasitic organisms have complex lifecycles; in some cases they are dependent on multiple species for their reproductive cycle.

Take for example, Leucochloridium paradoxum. It's a parasitic organism that reproduces via eggs inside of birds. Then the fecal matter containing the eggs are consumed by snails. The eggs hatch inside the snail and then proceed to develop into a sporocyst with various branches throughout the snail's body. The ends of the branches then develop into a broodsac which infest the snail's eyestalk.

In a highly disturbing aspect of mimicry, the broodsacs will pulsate to attract predation by birds while simultaneously mind-controlling the snail:

(Look up "Leucochloridium" on Youtube if you want to see this in action. Warning: it's a bit gross.)

Birds will then attack the snail, ripping out the broodsac from the eyestalk and then the whole cycle starts over.

This is obviously a highly complicated lifecycle that clearly defies biological evolution. Therefore it must have involved the hand of an intelligent designer.

That said, how and why would an intelligent designer create such an organism? Imagine having a parasite in your eyeball that forces you wait around until it's pecked out by a bird. What purpose does such a parasite serve?

This interesting case is like a good number of other cases of parasites and their behavior. There is no science creationists can use to explain their origins. They yet say evolution does not explain the origins of these either. So we have nothing, but various approaches that are philosophy, to try explaining them. I have nothing, myself, other than guessing what might have been. When this world started being a cursed world, with curse in it spreading with ongoing sin, that affects humans and all their societies, but all the world with it. Creatures in the world generally quickly became more aggressive. Many had behavior aggressive to humans. But not all, some aggression was still just behavior against other creatures, not (yet) affecting humans (but any of those behaviors of aggressive creatures may yet turn against humans sometime). These ones might have first been soil organisms, but with the cursed world they started with aggression to other creatures too, along with that happening with other creatures as this world worsened. There is no escape from this curse, other than with repentance coming to the effective atonement to be delivered from all this that is cursed. I think creatures will still be delivered from it too.

 

[FredVB]

Here is where I quoted scripture in response to you:
Creationists: How does creation explain the existence of parasites?

I was simply referring to the language used in scripture when it states that God told Adam that if he ate of the tree, he would die. This truth of God's wrath being a product of man's transgression can be taken away by both literalists or non literalists, the story stays the same either way.

If I gave the impression that I was a biblical YEC literalist, I apologize. I am not.

If you aren't interested in engaging with creationists, aside from biblical literalists, on the topic of suffering or sin in the world, that is fine.

Death in this world is a consequential result of sin starting with the disobedience at the "fall". One sin does not do all the damage, it was the start of many sins, all disobedience to God and God's ways. The world worsens, with further death, with killing, with more of the sins. Among us, there are hundreds of thousands of billions, or more, of sins. And any contribution to more killing or destructiveness is worsening the world yet more, Creatures that have not turned aggression toward human beings still would. We have started seeing evidence of that growing further.

 

[Doveaman]

Birds will then attack the snail, ripping out the broodsac from the eyestalk and then the whole cycle starts over.

This is obviously a highly complicated lifecycle that clearly defies biological evolution. Therefore it must have involved the hand of an intelligent designer.

That said, how and why would an intelligent designer create such an organism?

I'm not sure how or why God did it, but it is good of you to acknowledge that He did it.

 

[pitabread]

I'm not sure how or why God did it, but it is good of you to acknowledge that He did it.

If that's what you took away from the OP, then might have missed the point. By a lot.