Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: AntiGuv
"Creating the option of engaging in evil is creating evil."

No. That is not the same.

"An omnipotent, omniscient god could very well create free will - although that would require that he limit himself, which would then make him a limited god."

Yes, to the extent that God gives us free will, He has limited Himself. But for all practical purposes, He's unlimited. He can do anything He wants, including destroy us. That He doesn't destroy us immediately, but gives us time to repent, is His perogative. I'm certainly not in the position to call Him evil for having given me time.

I think perhaps the confusion is between an Omnipotent God (one who can do anything) and an Omnicontrolling God. Not everything that happens is God's will. It's never God's will that man sins. However, it is God's will that we have free will.

To use a simple analogy. It's never my will that my child falls and hurts himself. However, it is my will that my child leans to walk on his own, and that means taking risks and suffering bumps and bruises. God is very much a risk taker.

60 posted on 04/11/2005 11:22:13 AM PDT by DannyTN
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies ]


To: DannyTN
No. That is not the same.

Yes, of course it is, because creating the option to engage in evil is evil.

Yes, to the extent that God gives us free will, He has limited Himself.

And there is no rational way to assess his limitations. More importantly, he would be a dualist god, in which case there is no rational way to assess his credibility. He would be a dualist god because before he chose to limit himself he would know the outcome of his actions would be evil.

But, going back to the point, what I said is that an omniscient, omnipotent god would not rationally and intentionally create evil. In other words, no evil can exist in the judgment of such a god. If evil does not exist, then we cannot transgress, and so god is irrelevant from a practical standpoint - whatever we do will be satisfactory. If evil exists that is beyond the god's control, then the universe itself is not under his control.

Such gods are not practically relevant to us because they are not rationally relevant to us - in other words, we cannot reach a rational determination of what the god might require, if anything, and of what the god has the power to enact, if anything.

73 posted on 04/11/2005 11:35:14 AM PDT by AntiGuv (™)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson