MeDeFe wrote:d1g
First of all, this problem I'm pointing out says nothing about god's goodness or omnipotence.
Calling it "polemic" is a bit mean, all I do is draw logical conclusions, namely that you get A and ~A at the same time. I have been thinking a little about your spreadsheet analogy, and have come to the conclusion that it really does nothing to explain how god's omniscience and our free will are compatible. Putting god outside our universe does nothing to mitigate the fact that an omniscient god knows how any given person will act at any given time.
Fair enough on the 2 first objections.
1. I worded that to include the other argument about the incompatibility of evil in the world with God being omniscient, omnipotent and good. My answer is essentially the same to that argument, but including it just clouds the issue. So let's just deal with the omniscience/free-will thing and leave out the other 2 adjectives.
2. "Polemic" I was just using as "of or concerning an argument" considering it less insulting than "rhetorical" with its double meaning. Sorry if you took it as "mean". Once again, re-write that as "rhetorical, or logical booby-trap", or "a catch-22".
Now to deal with the issue. The point is that the models or analogies show that it is conceivable that the 2 can co-exist. For example in my spreadsheet scenario, (Here's a link for those who aren't familiar. It's a ways down in my long first post, but I've edited in a subheading to make it easier to find.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=88944&p=2056708#p2056708 )
God knows what the end will be if you choose this, and knows what the end will be if you choose that. Thus He knows the end, but you still have the freedom to choose. He is free to leave things to be eternally affected by our choices, or to interfere, or have self-correcting formulae in some cells, to preserve outcomes that he doesn't want changed. (And even though he may preserve the outcome he wants in the big picture, you can "disobey" yourself out of a place in it.) So God's "knowing the end from the beginning" is not in any way inconsistent with our having free will.
Once again, this is just a model: an imperfect picture of something and not the thing itself. If this, using finite, 4 dimensional things comprehensible to human minds, shows it as conceivable, how much more is it possible for God, being transcendent as described. Your argument that the 2 things are logically incompatible is invalid.
The right answer to the wrong question is still the wrong answer to the real question.
