> So the condemnation of God comes from his omniscience? > > If he just created it and then let it go have choice, he'd be clean.
But it's like a psychic tossing a coin. The reason we roll dice and toss coins is to randomize, because we don't have control over how the dice or coin will end up. The psychic might not be able to spin the dice or coin in the way she wants, but she knows before it happens what the result will be. She could influence that by saying, "Let's go best two out of three" because she knows the first result will be one she doesn't want, and the next two will go her way. Or she could say, "Let's not do a coin-toss, let's do it some other way instead" because she knows the result isn't what she'll want. If she goes through with the coin toss knowing what it will be, it's not randomizing a decision or putting it outside of her control. It just means that she has seen the result and it reaffirms what she wanted to do. (Or the expected result wasn't so bad that she tried to avoid it.) An omniscient creator (with perfect precognition) isn't randomizing anything or putting things outside of his control by given his creations "free will." By definition, he would know every consequence and every choice that these things would make. He might heartily approve of their choices, or tacitly approve, but setting events in motion means that one way or another, he approves. An omniscient, omnipotent being who created everything in the universe would be responsible for every event that ever happens, good or bad, because He knew they would happen when he set things in motion. > If anything bad happens at all then God's responsible? Yes, because everything that happens is a result of the universe as God created it, and events that an omniscient, omnipotent being would have known would happen. > Is it one strike and He's out? It doesn't mean he gets a life sentence in California. But if the question is whether he is responsible or not, then yes, he is responsible. > Is it possible that his aggregate score could be a positive, like "in > the long run it was a good." It wouldn't really make sense for an omnipotent being to cause events that he didn't want to happen. Omnipotence would mean he would be capable of causing all events to happen the way he wanted. > I certainly think some of my suffering actually enriched my life and I > certainly don't feel anyone else is responsible for my actions. How much "suffering" do you have lined up in your daily planner this week? I hope you're not going to sabotage your next concert just to build character for yourself! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "A Civil Religious Debate" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/a-civil-religious-debate?hl=en.
