JumpinJesus

I did a search for this topic and came up with nothing, so if this has been discussed before, then accept my apologies, as I am not omniscient.

Before I start, allow me this caveat: This discussion is not about the Christian god or Jesus, but about every religion with a supreme, omniscient being. To this end, I will not capitalize the word "god" so as not to give the impression that this discussion is about the Judeo-Christian god.

Once, during an argument, a friend and I were discussing the power of god. My friend insisted that god knows everything about me, including what I will do in the future. During this same argument, my friend was also holding to the insistence that god gives us free will, because he wants us to choose to love him, not force us. To this I retorted with the following: god cannot be omniscient if we have free will, or, if god is omniscient then free will does not exist.

If, as the argument goes, god exists in the past, present, and future simultaneously, then he knows our future choices. This knowledge prevents us from choosing anything other than what he foresees us choosing. However, if we truly do have free will, then it follows that god cannot know what we will choose, thus eliminating the possibility of omniscience. Even if god chooses to ignore this knowledge, it's mere existence prevents the exercise of free will.

So, we either have free will or we have god, what's it gonna be?

Your thoughts?

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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses