A good human father would not give anything to his child that he even thought would be harful, nor hold anything back that he knew would help his child, so in that sense we expect more of a human father than a father who is said to know all things ahead of time, and what human father wouldn’t step in if he saw his child was harming itself?
I’m not entirely certain you are using free will in the same way as most people mean it. Free will means you have the ability to disobey; it does not mean you can avoid the repercussions.
I’m pretty sure he did not know the outcome ahead of time; that is the essence of free will. If he knows everything ahead of time, then everything is determined; in which case, there’s no point in actually doing any creating. Or if He did create than He could just jump over the whole middle part and cut to the end.
As for making mistakes: I suppose it gets all down to how you define it. I think you’ll find that defining the word “mistake” is pretty tricky. Do you feel a criminal makes a mistake when he deliberately decides to rob a bank? Let’s say he never gets caught. Is it still a mistake?
I suppose misspelling a word is clearly a mistake, unless I intended to misspell it. Even if I intended to misspell it, perhaps its still a mistake, because noone understood the comical effect I was attempting.
To be able to judge if a being makes a mistake, you would have to clearly understand the full intent. I am confident that we cannot understand the full intent of a creating God.
I’m afraid trying to use human concepts to fully understand something that is by definition not human is going to lead to many types of translation problems. I like to apply Roger Penrose’s idea to the problem: that our metaphysics is still missing some major component. Or perhaps the scale is simply too big and small for us to be able to grasp everything at once, even in a rough way.
I already had it figured out; I was just trying to get missy to respond. But that’s okay. You bring up some excellent points. And here is another: what did all the animals and plants do to deserve dying in a flood–other than the ones that got miracled all the way to the Ark?
I understand why you feel he does not step in. But he is going to step in at the end. He said . I heal the broken in heart I bindeth up their wounds. He will heal yours also .
My point exactly. If God is all knowing then he would not be like the Biblical God as portrayed. If God regretted creating man then he didn’t know ahead of time what man would do so he would not be all knowing.
In other words this all loving being would be like a father who beats his child for something he/she doesn’t understand, then locks him /her up for many years so the child can’t make a mistake, instead of giving the child the knowledge and means to see the future so when he is an adult he will know the difference? Doesn’t sound very loving or kind to me. He also lets a monster he created destroy the child that he is supposed to love, sends the child to eternal punishment because of it and even though he knew before the child was created it would burn for all eternity? Even punishes the childs prodigy because of the parent’s disobying him?
That is not what he will do to a child of his at all . He gave you and me knowledge if he did not how would we be talking about him. And he will not punish a child who does not no about him. He will only punish you or anyone if you do not ask for forgivness. And the monster he created can only tempt we have a choice. GOD knows we are going to sin . He sent Jesus just for that reason. You do not have to do anything but ask him to forgive you. Then he said I will never leave you nor forsake you . He is not sitting up there waiting for you to fail so he can harm you. He just wants you to ask him to forgive you Then the rest is up to you and him,
If he is all knowing then he knew ahead of time before a person was created how the child would act, so therefore it would be his will to have a child do evil. Being a parent myself, I would not concieve a child I knew a head of time that would kill another of my children. Adam and Eve did not choose to be tempted by a so called superior being, so they were totally innocent and God would have known ahead of time they would disobey, just as he should have known Satan would be evil. Jesus told the woman who needed his help for her child, that he just came for the lost sheep of Israel, so if the writing is true, then Jesus didn’t come to save the world(that would be a direct quote). The church or writers decided he came for that purpose. It is a matter of belief. Each person believes what they feel helps them. Belief changes when they see it does not. Belief is either taught, written, or thought, by other people and we pick up on that!
It is a proven Fact that the Bible is the work of other humans and also that other humans decided it was inspired and was the Word of God. so inreality one is believing in other humans not God.
If we agree that all-knowing means that he knows what actions we will choose to take in the future, then yes, we agree here. He cannot know, because He gave us free will.
Free will does not mean random choices. He would know each and everything that could possibly influence us, our mindset at the time of each and every decision, and the contents of our memory. He should have no problem guessing what we will do from birth until death.