Original assertion by aquila48:
There is no free will if God is omniscent.
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From your perspective it’s free will. From God’s perspective it’s predestination.
Rational thought is a powerful tool but human knowledge will always be incomplete (see Gödel). The irrational knowledge of faith is required to discover the knowledge of God. By faith I understand that God’s creation is good because his word says so. God gave me life to become an instrument of his praise and by finding him I found myself, not by force but by a voluntary act of accepting his perfect gift of salvation.
In addition to being omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent, God is infinite (has no beginning or end), God is immutable (never changes), God is self-sufficient, God is perfect (no blemish), God is good, wise and just. He is faithful, merciful and gracious. God is loving and God is personal (he desires that we do good and prosper). God is not a man that he should lie.
Finally, God is holy and sin separates us from his presence. If we acknowledge our sin and ask for forgiveness, believing that Jesus Christ is the son of God and was resurrected from the grave, we are saved. Our fellowship with God is restored because God sees only the righteousness of Christ in us.
Yes there is evil in this world but God did not create this evil, that is absurd. The light shined in the darkness but the darkness did not understand. Evil arose in the hearts of the disobedient, disobedience results in sin and sin leads to death. Those who love God demonstrate this love by obeying his commandments, not by works but by faith. Jesus gave us a new commandment, that we should love one another as he loved us. No greater love has any man than to lay down their life for their friends.
Yes there is suffering in this world and it seems senseless. But Jesus said “I have spoken these things to you so that in me you may have peace. In this would you will have tribulation but take courage, I have overcome the world.”
Faith is the key to a better understanding of the ways of God. Faith is the evidence of things not seen, the substance of things hoped for. That which is seen is temporary but that which is unseen is eternal.
Be of good cheer aquila48, in the constellation Aquila the Eagle, whose brightest star is Altair, one of three in the Summer Triangle.
“From your perspective it’s free will. From God’s perspective it’s predestination.”
I’m not sure I follow that. If there is predestination, free will can’t possibly exist. Right? You will do what’s predestined - you have no choice.
“Rational thought is a powerful tool but human knowledge will always be incomplete (see Gödel). The irrational knowledge of faith is required to discover the knowledge of God.”
Perhaps, and maybe faith is just a higher order sense that some people posses. And for those who don’t, it can’t be described in terms of the other senses. Just like colors can’t be described to a blind man.