There were waves made recently when a travelling minister came to our church and said that God was not all-knowing, not omniscient. He claimed God was moving through time with us, which is why we truly have free-will.
It's an interesting idea, but so outrageous that I have to comment on it.
The first thing that comes to mind is how we can have prophets if there is no known future to predict? Did Jesus just hope he would be raised from the dead on the third day?
More serious, studious students of scripture do not question the omnipotence of God, but rather that beings have free will.
If I am given two options A & B and God is all-knowing, God knows I will choose A, God cannot be wrong. So if I cannot choose B, how do I have free will?
This argument is true in that:
-I can freely choose between A & B
-God is all-knowing
-God knows I will choose A
-God cannot be wrong
But the next statement does not follow. Just because God has knowledge of something does not mean that He makes it so. For instance, I love horses. If I am travelling in a car and someone notices and comments that there is a horse out in a field, I have a choice to look or not look. It is my free will. But God knows and everyone else who knows me knows that I will snap my attention to try to see that horse.
Free will and omniscience are compatible.
By the way, God invented time, that He would lower himself to be limited by this construct does not follow.
3 comments:
I believe that god created us because he needed relationship. That may be hard to grasp to think that God would need anything. The fact of the matter is that happiness is gained through giving love. We cant give love without having relationships. A relationship with something that has a list of every move its going to make stuck to it would be very dry. Therefore I think God CHOOSES to not know every detale of our future so that he can love us completly.
I own a dog. I got the dog so I could enjoy a relationship with it. When a bird lands near him, I know he is going to jump after it. This does not detract from me enjoying the relationship. This is about as simple as I can answer anonymous.
What is free will? True love is free will. Free will is experienced when there are no conditions.Real love is experienced when there are no conditions. To have conditions is to force. But where love is present, nothing can be forced. Conditions exist only where there is division. Force is used where there is duality, a sense of 'you and I.' You use force because you perceive the other to be different from you. But force cannot take place when there is only one. The very idea of force disappears in that state. Then you simply are. The universal life force flows through you; you become an open passage. You let the Supreme Consciousness (free will) take charge of you. That supreme consciousness is love, it is god, it is freedom, and free will, it is omnipresent. When you remove whatever has been obstructing the flow; you remove the self-created bund allowing the river of all-embracing love to run its course. Love and freedom are not two; they are one. They are interdependent. Without love there can be no freedom; and without freedom there can be no love. That pure unconditional love is god :)
- influenced by amma's words.
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