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From: tim@cmu-cs-k.ARPA (Tim Maroney)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Divine omniscience
Message-ID: <338@cmu-cs-k.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 23-Mar-85 19:24:42 EST
Article-I.D.: cmu-cs-k.338
Posted: Sat Mar 23 19:24:42 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 25-Mar-85 02:08:09 EST
References: <5013@cbscc.UUCP>
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, Networking
Lines: 27

I really wasn't going to get involved in the whole debate on the apparent
incompatibility of free will and total prescience.  But the "God being
outside time" argument really bugs me.

The argument goes like this: We have freedom despite the fact that God knows
what we are going to do, because for God the past, present, and future exist
"at once".  God is outside time.

The problem is that this totally destroys the usual monotheistic view of
creation, and leaves us even less free than before.  God did not create the
universe, watch man disobey, send the prophets, and so on.  Instead, it was
all created at once.  God made the Garden at the same time he made the
disobedience of Adam, at the same time as he made the war with the
Canaanites, at the same time he made the crucifixion, at the same time he is
making this letter I am sending.  Every decision made by a human was
actually created directly by God.  No other view is compatible with the two
assumptions of (1) divine creation of the Universe and (2) coexistence of
all eras from a divine perspective.

The "God is outside time" argument is really just a ploy to try to avoid
discussing the subject by placing God outside the normal rules.  But it is
possible to consider the ramifications of the new rules as well, and we
still wind up with a total lack of freedom.
-=-
Tim Maroney, Carnegie-Mellon University, Networking
ARPA:	Tim.Maroney@CMU-CS-K	uucp:	seismo!cmu-cs-k!tim
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