Imagine time is a dimension, like height, width and depth.
Now imagine you are watching a man run a 100 yard dash.
If you could see time as a linear progression, you would see the man at every point in the dash. We only see him at one point consistent with the one point in time we are aware of.
If God sees time as a dimension, seeing when the man finishes is just like seeing how tall someone is. Consequently, He could view the result of the race before it began...
Free will doesn't mean unpredictable. It means not controlled. God sets us in motion and does not control what we decide. He may know ultimately what we will do (just like if we could see time as a dimenson) but that does not mean he CHOSE what we would do.
The concept here is knowledge. Take, for example, an elementary physics problem. Say dropping a ball from a height indoors. A couple of elementary physics principles let you know that the ball will hit the ground, and where it will hit. With some simple knowledge of the ball's mass, gravity, and the height of the drop, one can calculate when the ball will hit. With some (more complicated) information about the air resistance on the ball, you can determine how fast the ball will hit. With some (mind-boggling) knowledge about the precise center of gravity of the ball, combined with all of the above knowledge, one can even predict which part of the ball will hit the ground. You can stretch this sucker out a little bit more, and get all kinds of nifty information on what the ball will do
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I was never one to follow fate and free will is the way that I prefer to go on with my daily life. The notion of knowing that you will live this life that is planned out for you is just not right in my opinion. My past carves out my present and future for me which in turn will be what it was before that.
A being like that (goddess, etc.) or whatever "being" is considered in the eyes of people as something that could possibly crush you under its fingernail anyway *shrugs*
Heh. Actually, the ancient Celts had a real interesting take on Fate/Free Will. They thought that, at the beginning of time, the skein of fate for all time was laid out--every action, every nuance.
BUT, human beings were given the chance to choose their own actions, and by choosing, they changed the skein of fate. So you get to have it both ways. Which rocks.
What you have there, ultimately, is a maddening oversimplification that reduces Christian theology to tripe. One of the comments above points out the easiest flaw in your line of reasoning: just because God is all-knowing and all-powerful does not mean he is ever-active. In that sense there is no conflict between God's power and the power of free will
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Comments 7
While I have no real opinion on this matter (I'm not very educated in Christian principles), I like your argument. It makes sense. =)
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Now imagine you are watching a man run a 100 yard dash.
If you could see time as a linear progression, you would see the man at every point in the dash. We only see him at one point consistent with the one point in time we are aware of.
If God sees time as a dimension, seeing when the man finishes is just like seeing how tall someone is. Consequently, He could view the result of the race before it began...
Free will doesn't mean unpredictable. It means not controlled. God sets us in motion and does not control what we decide. He may know ultimately what we will do (just like if we could see time as a dimenson) but that does not mean he CHOSE what we would do.
p3
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A being like that (goddess, etc.) or whatever "being" is considered in the eyes of people as something that could possibly crush you under its fingernail anyway *shrugs*
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BUT, human beings were given the chance to choose their own actions, and by choosing, they changed the skein of fate. So you get to have it both ways. Which rocks.
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