Things that change us

[Mr.Obvious]

Alright Deirdre, with your permission.

I'll put this as simply as I can. Not because I think I must speak in simple terms for Godscreated. I'm sure (s)he's an intelligent person. It's just that in my experience in explaining this to others, confusion tends to rise.

A god that is omnipotent, omniscient and created the world we live in has complete control over everything that has happened, happens and will happen. It knows the choices we'll make in our lives and the results those will yield. If not, the god is not omniscient. But, as I've heard it countered, the god knowing of our decisisions in advance does not mean they are made without our free will. And that would be true and I could up to some point accept that, if he were not endowed with other omni-traits.

See, the way I see it; god supposedly created the universe. And not only that, because this god is all powerful; it could have created it's creation (the universe) in any way it wanted to. The ways it could have created the creation is not only this world. Or else it's not an omnipotent god. If the god is limited to a single universe it can create only in a single way, it is not an unlimited being. So there have to be an infinite universes it could have created. By creating this one, it made the prime choice.

Such a prime choice in itself does not take away free will of those that come after. My parents deciding to have only three children instead of five, for example, does influence my entire life. But what it does not do is make me 'feel' like my decisions throughout my life are determined in advance. I still feel like I have my free will. However I do imagine that if my parents had given me two younger siblings, my life would have been quite different. My experiences would have led me down different paths in life and would have wound up making me a different me. Imagine, perhaps I would have turned out to become a pastor. Or a delinquent. Who knows?
I can only feel in this life like I 'made my own decisions'. Like I exerted my free will. And that my path, though determined by the sum total of my experiences since conception and the make up from my DNA, is my path. After all, while my surroundings influenced me completely; they did not do so consciously of what that would lead to. Just like my 'decisions' influence everyone else, but don't make everyone do what I want them to do. I do not have that insight and I do not have that power. I am neither omniscient nor omnipotent.

Which leads us back to god. God, if it's omnipotent, could have made any choice it wanted in creating the universe. Every subtle detail that it could have chosen, was to its disposal. There were infinite options with infinite details. And from each option with each detail, god would have known exactly what kind of world and people would spring from that. It would know every detail, every thought, every 'decision' that would flow from thereon out. If god didn't; god wouldn't be omniscient.
Which means that with it's 'prime choice' it decided all that would come to pass.

And here is the kicker. If it had chosen to create a different universe from the infinite possibilities, that would still be the case. It could never escape making all our decisions for us, in advance, because it has complete control and understanding of the entire universe it chose to create, down to the smallest detail. And with that power and knowledge it sets up the entire 'system', from an infinite amount of possibilities; choosing the one in which happens what it wants to happen, down to the smallest thing.
If it had created a universe in which our experiences, Godscreated, were mirrored and I started living for god and you lost your religion; it would have known that in advance as well. And such a world is one of the infinite possibilities it could have chosen from. And in another one, your words would have convinced me to join you in your passion for the lord. And in yet another one we and all the other people in the world, throughout all of time, would have come to revere your god . And in that world the people would have just as much 'free will' as you and I have now. Because in that world too, your god would have known exactly how his 'prime choice' would effect everyone and everything and what it would lead to, down to the smallest detail.