From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!ariel!hou5f!npois!houxm!5941ux!dje
Newsgroups: net.religion
Title: Re: Free will and predestination make no sense
Article-I.D.: 5941ux.240
Posted: Thu Apr 14 12:09:34 1983
Received: Tue Apr 19 03:50:21 1983
References: unc.4968

Tim defined a "free" choice as one that cannot be predicted.  This definition
puts the notions of free will and predetermination at odds with one another.

There is a different way of looking at things.  Can we not consider a choice
to be free even if God has foreknowledge?  The apparent contradiction is not
so bothersome if we are not privy to God's knowledge.  Because WE do not
know in advance how we will choose until we make the choice, our choice is
not predicated upon God's foreknowledge.  As such, I consider my choices to
be free despite my belief in an omniscient God.  I don't feel myself to be a
puppet, and perhaps it is my attitude that makes me more than a puppet.

Of course, somebody with a different point of view can say that I am still a
puppet.  But from my point of view -- my reality, so to speak -- I make my
own choices rather than God making them for me.  

It might be interesting to take the software engineering concept of
information hiding and place it in the framework of religious philosophy.
(just an offhand thought...)

			Dave Ellis / Bell Labs, Piscataway NJ
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