[jlogajan]

This has always seemed pretty peculiar to me, also, especially since the entity (being omniscient) certainly knew what would happen

Actually, the whole concept of a God with perfect knowledge of past, present and future makes religion a ridiculous concept for just that very reason. God knows all future outcomes, God creates men of "free will" even though he already knows to infinity how each one will behave and whether that person will go to hell or not.

It is all fatalistic -- God already knows the result of his creation -- so what is the point? Is he hoping he suffers from amnesia so that he can be surprised by the results.

Or -- God doesn't know everything and therefore he's not qualified to be passing judgement on anyone else -- in which case he is nothing more than a cheap dictator.

[Stavka2]

Or 3. the future is not written in stone but has many outcomes which God can see all of. There fore, our actions do have an impact on the end result. And as the creator, whether through Evolution or Poof, he has the right to judge his creation...definitly more right then some judge with all the human failings of a mortal who can send you to death row.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Does make one wonder how this omniscience doesn't collapse the wave functions for the universe.