Theists: How can predetermined fate and free will coexist?

[John V]

I'm saying I appear to have a self. In fact, it's the only thing I'm sure of, that "I" am experiencing something. I'm not sure what "I" am, or whether anything I'm experiencing is real.

That's a cop out. We also appear to make free choices. People argue that we really don't, on both theological and materialist grounds. Determinism doesn't get shot down in a serious discussion because someone just says I appear to have free will.

I pragmatically assume that others who are similar to me also have genuine experiences, rather than just being "philosophical zombies". Especially because evidence suggests that they probably do. I can never be sure of this however. Do you have experiences? We're dealing with actual reality here, not a hypothetical. Also, computers could be self-aware for all I know.

I like I think, therefore I am. However, with your interpretation of omniscience, given an omniscient god, I don't think. Therefore I am not, and I don't have any rights.

You previously said that with omniscience we're like characters in a movie or book. People don't judge the author of the book for the treatment of the characters in the book...because they're just characters in a book, and so don't have rights.

You're asking what the difference is between smashing a computer and a person with a hammer? Well, a person

We haven't established that a thing such as a person really exists.

appears to have feelings and will suffer,

There you go with appearances again. If a theist says that the universe appears to be created, or their prayers appear to be answered, that's probably not good enough for you. It's special pleading to allow yourself to just trust appearances if you don't allow others to do so.

and most of us put a much higher value on human life than other things.

NSS. I'm asking why that is.

That's the gist of it. There's nothing physically stopping you from doing it anyway though. Whether your actions are "just" is simply a matter of opinion. If we have no genuine choices to make, then I personally find God judging us to be insane rather than just unfair.

In that situation, it's strange to think of god as judging us, rather than just as an author of a very detailed book.

It would be like me casting a spell on my toy so that it "feels", moving it around how I wish, then getting angry with what I've done with it and putting it in a furnace. Or, like you say, getting angry at your computer that you just programmed.