[Debate] The Problem of Evil [Religion] (79)

36 Name: Anonymous Scientist : 2008-06-30 00:24 ID:Z3VRn7pg

>>35

Well, the concept of true free will is an extremely difficult idea to comprehend in accordance to the nature of God. I mean, Saint Augustus of Hippo recanted his faith because of this conflict and John Calvin simply stated that the idea of free will is an illusion created by God, so if some of the people who knew quite about their stuff had some doubts, I sure as hell don't know the real answer, but I'll share with you how I see it as.

Imagine the known universe resides in a sphere. Now God created this sphere and holds the laws of physics, the time plane, stars, planets, etc. God exists outside this sphere where the concept of time hold no bearing over him or anything outside of the sphere. The way I see it is, the choices we make are all in a linear fashion (in terms of chronology)and each choice has a chance to branch off into a different direction. Now, the way I see it is that God knows each person's course of action even before their conception in the womb. Although God knows which course of action you will take and where you will end of at the end of your life, it is not by his command that you chose that course in your life, but it was by your own choice. God did not force you to go in a certain direction, but he knew which way you decided to go even before the known universe was created. In this sense, God still retains his omniscience by being able to determine which path you will take in life without interfering with your free will. This idea does not necessarily challenge God's omnipotence, because God still retains his power

I created the sphere concept because I wanted to emphasize that God exists outside this sphere so he is able to observe everything that goes on within this sphere without tampering with free will that he had granted us.

I would also like to bring up the point that the main difference between angels and humans is that angels have no free will. The only known angel that did have free will is lucifer, and we all know what happened to him.

In the end, Free will doesn't challenge the authority of God in terms of his omniscience or omnipotence. If anything, it challenges his benevolence.

I hope that made sense. That was the first time I actually put those thoughts into words so it might not make much sense. If something doesn't seem right, just point it out and I'll try to rephrase and reword as best as possible

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