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Old 10-12-2005, 01:09 AM   #21
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Originally Posted by Jaelum
I've heard a Christian posit what is basically the pan-universe theory to refute determinism: God not only knows the future, he knows all possible futures; the infinity of possibilities of every concievable choice every human makes every moment of existence.

/shrug
To say that God knows 'all possible futures' is self-contradictory.

God knows only one future: the one that will become actual. All other alternative futures are impossible to become actual, because God's knowledge is complete (omniscient) and infallible. To say God knows something that won't become actual or true, is to contradict 'knows'.
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Old 10-12-2005, 08:43 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobinius
To say that God knows 'all possible futures' is self-contradictory.

God knows only one future: the one that will become actual. All other alternative futures are impossible to become actual, because God's knowledge is complete (omniscient) and infallible. To say God knows something that won't become actual or true, is to contradict 'knows'.
Playing the God's Advocate here:

Only a mortal with incomplete knowledge and understanding would call the above impossible. An omniscient and omnipotent being can both "know" the entirety of future possibilities, but also maintain "threads of truth" through all of them, such that prophecy and prediction can continue to be true while allowing complete free will among the human agents of the universe.

Restated: if God only "knew" the exact decision you would make, the universe would be deterministic. But since he leaves each human decision as a fork in the road, what he has is more of a roadmap of destiny rather than a simple line of it.
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Old 10-12-2005, 01:17 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaelum
I've heard a Christian posit what is basically the pan-universe theory to refute determinism: God not only knows the future, he knows all possible futures; the infinity of possibilities of every concievable choice every human makes every moment of existence.

/shrug
FWIW the question as to whether God knows possible future, is called in technical theology the question of God and 'middle knowledge' .

Googling on 'middle knowledge' + God will provide various references.

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