Reply #4: I agree with Plantinga [View All]

ON EDIT: this took me a helluva long time to write, and it probably makes no sense at all!



Well, at least on the first part. The bit about alternate worlds seems unneccecary.

Assuming that there is a God and that he is all knowing, then he would know the future. However, I do believe in free will.

I contend that God knows what you will do. As Plantinga said, humans have a vast array of choices before us at all times. Many times, its a seemingly infinite number of choices. God, however, knows which choices we will make, and how they will affect us. Does he interfere with our choices? No. Does he influence our decision making? Not actively. Ny that, I mean that God does not make decisions for us. He passively influences our decisions. The best example of this would be someone trying to help others because he believes that is what would please God. But God does not force the person to make a choice to help others.

My best explaination for my reasoning can be illustrated by the future. The future, as far as I am concerned, is already laid out before us. We can not see it, however, because we do not know what other people will do. We can get a good picture of our personal futures because we know our decision making tendancies and we know how react to different stimuli. However, our one setback is that we only have such intimate knowledge of ourselves. There are literally billions of wild cards walking around on the planet.

Imagine, however, taking such knowledge and using it through the eyes of an omnipotent being. Then extend that knowledge to all life in the universe. With such knoweldge, all that it would take for precognition is simple pattern recognition skills. I am sure God is quite capable of that.

But what prevents the future from changing on a whim? Well, consider:
Assume that a person has a set future in front of them. Any chioces they make in their daily lives leads to this future, and all external influences (other people, outside conditions such as weather and current events) would occur independently of this person as they go through their day and their life. The only reason a potential for change in the timeline would occur would be due to an influence independant from the timeline. For example, the only way one could really change the future (and not the hokey, "this is your future if you don't change your ways, Ebenezer Scrooge" future) would be if they had a precise knowledge of the future, and then actively set out to change it. Otherwise, they would just go about their routines, all the while making choices that are fit to their character and personality.

What I am trying to say (quite akwardly, I admidt) is that God gives you free will, but he knows the future because he knows you. He knows what choices will be presented to you, and he knows what options you will choose.

The only way to prove God and arrive at an alternate future would be to actively work against God. What this means is the only way one could prove God wrong would be to make decisions in their life with an attidute of "There, God, bet you didn't see that one coming." It would be a game of constantly second guessing yourself, stopping and thinking "No, that's what God will be expecting!" Clearly, this is insane.

But, chances are, he expected you would do that anyway.