Bible prophecy and freewill
Posted on: August 16, 2007 - 7:25pm
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Bible prophecy and freewill
I have recently been thinking about prophecy and freewill and which to ask a question of anyone who understands the beleifs of religous people on this matter,People say that the bible predicts events that have occoured since its writing.If this is true then God did know what choices people would make,this means that accourding to them the universe is determanistic.
However they also claim that god created man with freewill, this seems to me to be a contradiction in there beleifs and yet another point that makes no sence.
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Correct. It is a contradiction.
The standard response to any question about freewill goes something like this:
"God knows what we are going to do, but he isn't actively forcing us to act. It is akin to a parent knowing that a baby will discover its own toes. Nobody forces the baby to do it, but the knowledge is there."
This is, of course, errant logic. God, as the originator of everything, would necessarily be completely responsible for everything. Comparing a parent (a natural, limited being without complete knowledge) to a deity (supernatural sic! being with complete knowledge, and the originator of everything that exists) is a false analogy, and no matter how emotionally appealing it is, it holds absolutely no logical validity. None.
Furthermore, claims of prophecies being fulfilled are pretty much complete baloney. There's nothing specific. If I say, "In that time, there will be a great fire, filling the loins of the dragon with anger" and then a couple of centuries later, someone decides I was talking about a particular attack helicopter called "The Dragon" that runs on nuclear fusion, bully for them, but it's not a fulfilled prophecy.
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You misunderstood my point, the point was as follows
•God creats man
•God know man will deside that he doesnt beleive in god
•Man considers the matter of gods existanc, He has the choice beleive or not, BUT, this is not a free choice, he is predetermined to choose this.
•So either god doesnt know what people will choose in advance or if he does then that means that they are not free to make the choice they MUST choose what god knows they will
E.g. God knows a dice roll will result in a 6, the die is rolled and is predetermined to result in a 6, it CANNOT give any other result as then god would be wrong and god being all knowing would not be capable of being wrong, prophecy would back up that he did know in advance and therefore man isnt free and there will is predetermined
Pretty much. This also means God, in all of his infinite power, is a sick sadistic meanie. Why anyone would worship someone of this nature is beyond me.