To say God is omniscient AND he gave man free will is a logical fallacy.
An omniscient god would know the exact thoughts of all his sheep before they were conceived. All of our actions would then be predetermined. If our actions are predetermined we have no free will. If we have no free will then God is responsible for all things evil.
If we do indeed have free will, God cannot be omniscient.
Drink if you must ;)
2007-08-15 17:04:25 · 11 answers · asked by Dog 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
That is sound doctrine and logically disproves the biblical god.
2007-08-15 17:13:33 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
To know is not necessarily to control. It is not a logical fallacy because (for the sake of this argument only) we can assume that two things are true:
A. We are free to make any choice that we please.
B. God (because of his omniscience) knows all of our choices from beginning to end.
So, please explain how the two cancel each other out. The choice is still ours. You may place a slice of cake and a plate of spinach before your 5 year-old child and *know* that your child will choose the cake. But no matter how much you know that he will choose the cake it is still his decision, not yours. Your knowledge of his decision beforehand does not cancel out his free will. You don't cross the line into infringing upon his free will until you snatch the cake away, and start shoveling spinach down his throat.
I'm prepared for the thumbs down, but oh well. Just playing Devil's Advocate. And, by the way, I'm only drinking if it's the good stuff. ;)
2007-08-16 00:19:03 · answer #2 · answered by Little Girl Blue 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Classical theodicy argument ... here we go.
God is omniscient and we are free. God decrees and preordains all things, and we freely choose our own actions.
The rub is that God is beyond space and time and we are not. Therefore, from an eternal perspective, our actions have been ordained, but from ours we are free to choose whatever course we wish to take. We are not forced to make a decision, but any free decision we make was ordained by God.
You cannot reduce an infinite being or elevate a finite being to make them equal. This is why it is not a logical fallacy. To do so would be causing a genetive fallacy and creating a straw man argument.
Ath
2007-08-16 00:23:32 · answer #3 · answered by athanasius was right 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If God forced you to do exactly what he wanted, then you would not have free will. Because he does not force you, you have free will.
Omniscient is to have all knowledge, it is not to determine the behavior of everyone, that is up to the individual. God passively seeing the infinite future in no way alters it, anymore than us reading a history book influences the past by simply observing it retrospectively.
You have free will AND God is omniscient.
2007-08-16 00:49:28 · answer #4 · answered by Someone who cares 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Just because God knows in advance what you will do does not mean you didn't have a free choice in whether or not you did it. Something being on God's list of his things he knows you will do does not force to do it because you don't know what's on his list anyway, it just means he knew what you would choose.
But rather than condemn you before you actually did something bad by sending you straight to hell or preventing you from being born, he allows you to go ahead and do it so you can't accuse him of being unjust by judging you for something you haven't done yet.
He also provides you with a way out - Jesus took the punishment for what you did so that you can be spared.
2007-08-16 00:31:39 · answer #5 · answered by jeffd_57 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I have found myself asking this very same question. I still question it. The only rational thing I can use to relate is while I was growing up, my parents seemed to know when I was plotting and up to something. And though they knew, they waited for me to use the good judgment they instilled in me and it was ultimately my choice if I screwed up or not.
2007-08-16 00:14:52 · answer #6 · answered by Jade | My Brain is My Shepherd 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Let's say I offer my child two different popsicles. One is chocolate, one is cherry.
Now, if I know my child SO well that I know exactly which popsicle they will choose does that mean I have taken away their free will or do they still have a complete freedom to choose whichever popsicle they want?
God didn't put us down here to prove us to Him, He put us here to prove us to ourselves. Otherwise we couldn't be as happy as we possibly could for the rest of forever.
2007-08-16 00:35:03 · answer #7 · answered by Chris B 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
OoOOoohhh, nice question. I can almost hear the heads exploding.
2007-08-16 00:12:23 · answer #8 · answered by Atlas 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
This is one more they do not have an answer for so....... bring on the bible quotations and circular logic!!!
2007-08-16 00:11:13 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I heard it was both but have proof of neither and what are we drinking?
2007-08-16 00:20:05 · answer #10 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋