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Sorry I've been absent from this thread. I didn't mean to post and run, I just got caught up in other things.
Now, allow me to further clarify what I intended.
By omniscience, I am referring to having all knowledge. Some have erroneously assumed I meant omnipotence, which is not what I meant. Omnipotence is the act of being everywhere at once, omniscience is the power of having all knowledge of all things.
By stating that a supreme being is omniscient, I was referring to that being having all knowledge of all choices made by all people at all times.
Some have used the analogy of offering candy to a child, but I don't believe this is a good analogy since our knowledge is not based upon omniscience but intuition. We know the child well enough to know he or she will choose the candy but we do not have knowledge of the actual choice that will be made. We are certain that the child will choose the candy, but we do not have specific foreknowledge of the choice.
Omniscience doesn't involve intuition, it involves the actual knowledge of the specifics of choice. This is from where I based my discussion.
Again, I wish to reiterate that this was not intended to be a discussion of whether or not God exists, but whether the existence of omniscience - or predetermination - would negate free will.
I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the responses and to those who question the worthwhileness of debating such a topic, my response would be to ask: why discuss anything? I enjoy hearing others' views and I defer to seeker's post as he said it better than I could have.
To answer a couple of specifics:
Suave, actually, I tend to lean towards the existence of infinite universes in which every choice ever made by anyone is played out.
qweds, thanks for the recommendation. I enjoy reading existentialists and this is someone of whom I've never heard.
frogza, you make an interesting point, however, your knowledge of the events is only the result of you being a passive observer. Now, had you placed those cars on those paths and then gave each driver the ability to choose their course, knowing they would choose actions leading to a collision, then yes, it'd be your fault.
and CSfilm, I swear I did another search and still came up with nothing. Maybe we're existing in those parallel universes: you in one that has this thread already in existence, and me in one that doesn't. Somehow, those universes have overlapped here in this thread. I even clicked the link you provided and got a "Sorry, no matches met your criteria" etc etc etc.
hmmmm.
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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
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