Some say yes, some say no, what do you think?
Does God know the future? Is it as fixed as the past? Do I have the ability to alter what God already knows will happen? If I can't change what is inevitable, am I to blame and worthy of hell? If God knows the future already, doesn't this limit his own free will to do as he pleases now as well? When was this course of events decided uopn by him? What was his will before that? Why would he ever change his will if it was already his perfect? If he was able to change his will then, why can't he now? If his will has always been his will and will always be his will, doesn't he have his own hands tied just as much as we do?
Self-contradiction and has a tendency to open Pandora's Box.
2006-07-10 16:13:09 · 7 answers · asked by ? 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Can God create a rock so heavy that he cannot lift it?
If you say he can, you limit his strength. If you say he can't, you limit his ability to create.
Making God illogical does not glorify him in any way.
2006-07-10 17:35:26 · update #1
Yes, you are correct. An omniscient god doesn't have free will and he doesn't allow anyone else to have free will either.
In the following two arguments, the author doesn't assign a gender to God, therefore God is referred to as "it", instead of "he" or "she".
"An Omniscient (all-knowing) Being Does Not Have Free Will:
If you are all-knowing, you know your future actions, what choices you will make, and you cannot change them otherwise your knowledge would be wrong, and you wouldn't be all-knowing. An omniscient being has no free will to choose actions; all its actions are predetermined.
'There is a light switch on the wall; God may either turn it on, or leave it off; but, since God already knows the future, God knows that he will turn it on. That is part of his knowledge. But what if God exercises freewill, and chooses not to turn it on. Is this possible?'
If you knew a decision you are going to make in the future... what would it mean? You would have no free will to change that choice. No option, no choices... based on the fact that you know it's going to happen, it is predestined and no amount of strong will can change it. The further in the future the predicted choice is, the less free will you have to change it! Well imagine if for infinity you'd always known exactly what choices you were going to make and that you could never be wrong. You would never have had any free will in any choice, ever!
In effect God is an observer. An omniscient being has no free will - its entire future is set out and it has no choice but to follow its predestined path."
--------------------------
"The existence of an omniscient or omnipotent God denies Humans free will:
The problem here is that God knows everything that has happened and everything that will happen. Its knowledge cannot be wrong. There is not a single event that it has not foresaw. Given that it created the Universe the way it did, do we have free will? Consider that when God made the Universe it could see every possible result of what it was doing. Which means: it could not create something without knowing what the results would be, and without knowing how it would be affected (and effect) the things around it.
Let's say that Fred has a choice that will save his life, to accept God or not to accept God and the final choice is to be made tomorrow. God knows already what choice he will make - God cannot be wrong therefore Fred cannot choose otherwise to what God has predicted. When God created the chain of events that made Fred it also knew that it was making Fred's choice for him, and knew how the various circumstances and character would make him choose either right or wrong. Fred would go forth and make that very decision that God knew he would make, and by virtue that God knowingly set up all the factors that affected his decision, it was not up to Fred but to God to decide how Fred would fare.
This argument does not imply that God does not exist. It leaves us with three results, two of which have to be wrong.
1. God created everything with full knowledge and we have no free will to change it
2. God does not have full knowledge
3. God did not make the Universe or there is no God"
- Both arguments written by Vexen Crabtree
Read more arguments about God's omniscience and free will here: http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/rm.html#FreeWill
2006-07-10 16:17:08 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 3⤋
God's omniscience does not preclude our ability to choose.
for instance: assuming you're hungry and you have two options for what you will eat. option A is your favorite and you've been waiting to eat it for a long time. option B is something you're not only allergic to, but it will kill you if you consume it. Would you choose option A willingly or because you were "forced" to because option B would kill you?
The obvious result is that you choose what you want to do, regardless. Simply because a divine being knows what you would choose (emphasis is on your choice, not on "what would happen") does not mean you don't have a choice--it requires that you have a choice.
Maybe it is better stated, if you could ever choose something you wouldn't choose to do, then you were forced to do so and you didn't choose at all. Your right to choose your actions is never revoked, only controlled by external means--you can always decide what you want to do, you just can't always do it.
Perhaps yet another explanation is that someone who observes the truth doesn't create it, else it would have been someone fabricating the truth instead (and truth would be at the mercy of the individual rather than truth at all).
2006-07-10 16:38:19 · answer #2 · answered by nasspo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God exists in the past, present and future. I believe our spirits, at least the spirits of people who are one with God, all have the ability to do be in all of time. We cannot fathom the depths of God.
God knows everything but God can not make you do ANYTHING. He wrote the names of the believers in His Book of Life because He knew, from the beginning of time, who would, and who would not accept Him. But He didn't make you become a believer or disbeliever. Your free will does that.
God does know the future because He exists in all of time.
I do believe you can alter what will happen by having faith and praying according to His will. His will is revealed via the Holy Spirit. Does that mean you really don't have free will?
Well, not really because of the scripture, "What you fear the most, will come upon you." If you have negative faith then negative things will happen. Faith is faith, whether it be positive or negative, of God or not of God.
I don't think I answered your question but it was fun thinking about it.
2006-07-10 16:25:46 · answer #3 · answered by bakequery 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it is fairly self-evident that we have free will so obviously our concept of God, and what God is and does is flawed.
In my book "The Plain Truth About God-101" we look at it this way.
-Let me put it into a nutshell for all you squirrely people out there.
Never mind what God wants you to do.
(And there IS a God, we just don’t know who, what, where, why, etc. ....................Why? Because it’s GOD stupid!)
Ours is not to question why, ours is just to do or die!
Forget trying to convert everyone else to being a good Christian, or Muslim, or Hindu, or American, or Vegetarian or anything else.
That’s not your job!
Forget trying to explain what God wants, or needs, or thinks.
That’s not your job!
Forget trying to proclaim a message in God’s name.
That’s not your job!
Forget trying to petition God!
(I’ll go out on a limb here and say that’s not God’s job!)
Forget worrying about the afterlife.
That’s not your job! (It happens, or it doesn't!)
I could keep on going, but you get the idea.
Our job is to do the best we can!
Our job is to make life a little easier for everyone by “helping out” and being there when needed!
Our job is to live life, (and die) with a bit of class and a state of grace!
Our job is to show some maturity and put away childish things!
In other words it’s time we "grew up" as a Race and became responsible for ourselves instead of doing everything in “GOD"S NAME”
Allan W Janssen - from the book - The Plain Truth About God-101 what the church doesn’t want you to know!
Everyone needs something to believe in..... I believe I will have another beer!
2006-07-10 16:34:00 · answer #4 · answered by Moses 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here's your answer - there is no answer. That's because it's a myth written by someone not intelligent enough to even think it through as much as YOU have. He was some unbathed stinky guy in a tent surrounded by goats, trying to explain the origin of things he could not comprehend - kinda like "How the Tiger Got His Stripes" and stories like that. Read that one - he ran in circles around a tree and spilled butter on himself, that's where the stripes came from. Just as intelligent as the Bible!
2006-07-10 16:16:28 · answer #5 · answered by Jeremiah 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in a logically sound world - ABSOLUTELY
but you will find plenty of brainwashed morons that will quote from the very source you are questioning (interesting approach for solving an argument...), 'proving' to you that it is not mutually exclusive......
2006-07-10 16:18:20 · answer #6 · answered by elwoodo0oo 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. They are not mutually exclusive. I might know what you are going to do before you do it, but you still have the choice to do it and I do not force you to do it or not do it.
2006-07-10 16:16:50 · answer #7 · answered by hopflower 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋