[Warlord David]

Why does both idea of God thinking in time or eternal contradict each other? For the determinist idea for a once and for all time instanteous script of history in God thinking does not limit his ability to think and act sequentially either. Both ideas provide how unlimited Gods ability are.

[winstonchurchill]

[1]Why does both idea of God thinking in time or eternal contradict each other? [2]For the determinist idea for a once and for all time instanteous script of history in God thinking does not limit his ability to think and act sequentially either.

I have numbered your statements for ease of reference.

As to [1], your implication is correct: I don't think there is conflict as long as God's thinking is sequential. It is important to ignore the 'length' of time between acts or decisions and just focus on whether one act or decision of God comes before another. It is the sequentiality, not the measurement of intervals that is important.

As to [2], you are right again. A determinist could well hold that God considered things sequentially before man was created and fleshed out His entire 'script' at that time and then implemented it. It is the confluence of (1) the sequentiality of God's actions and decisions combined with (2) the free agency of His created beings that causes the problem for determinists.

The sequentiality issue is (it seems to me) critical for the open theist construct because without it you can a conflict with God 'knowing' everything and yet man's free agency being truly 'free.'