I'm perfectly willing to believe I have free will, because it feels as if I have free will.
But a universe created by an omnipotent, omniscient God is as inimical to free will as is a deterministic universe. If God is omniscient (and I've read the manual, it says he is), then not only does he know everything that happens, but he knows everything that has happened, and (most importantly) everything that will happen. Any other set of conditions stretches the meaning of the word 'omniscient' out of all recognizable shape.
So, if God knows everything that is ever going to happen, he knows all the choices you are ever going to make and he is going to know the results of those choices - from which spoon you use to stir your coffee to whom you're going to marry - everything. Furthermore, if God knows all this, then he has always known it (see above). Effectively, this amounts to 1) everything is going to play out in a pattern already known of and approved by God, and 2) God creates people known that some of them are going to have absolutely horrific lives.
Free will might work to a non-deterministic quantum mechanic, it can never work in the context of a God who created everything and knows everything.
Boru
But a universe created by an omnipotent, omniscient God is as inimical to free will as is a deterministic universe. If God is omniscient (and I've read the manual, it says he is), then not only does he know everything that happens, but he knows everything that has happened, and (most importantly) everything that will happen. Any other set of conditions stretches the meaning of the word 'omniscient' out of all recognizable shape.
So, if God knows everything that is ever going to happen, he knows all the choices you are ever going to make and he is going to know the results of those choices - from which spoon you use to stir your coffee to whom you're going to marry - everything. Furthermore, if God knows all this, then he has always known it (see above). Effectively, this amounts to 1) everything is going to play out in a pattern already known of and approved by God, and 2) God creates people known that some of them are going to have absolutely horrific lives.
Free will might work to a non-deterministic quantum mechanic, it can never work in the context of a God who created everything and knows everything.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
