15 Mar '08 20:22>1 edit
I'm guessing that many of you would not have a logical problem with the following hypothetical ...(assuming God exists of course)
1) If you have free will and right now you make a free choice between A or B then God would know that choice outcome right now in this present moment.
Okay , if you see no problem with this then I would ask you to think about the following....
Let's say you choose B right now . Okay, Back in what for you was 2002 this choice outcome B in 2008 was what you would have called your "future" but now it is what you call the "present" . You have no problem with the idea that God can be here in 2008 knowing the choice you are making in this present moment (except it's now just become your past).
Back in 2002 you would also have had no problem with God knowing your choices in that present moment either. The difficulty is that in 2002 you would have said something like "there's no way that God can know what I will choose in march 2008 in the future if my choices are free" .
BUT , here God is (if he exists) knowing precisely the free choice you are making and you have no problem with that because it's now the present and not the future any more (at least for you it isn't).
The point of this is that we imagine that an eternal God would have to travel through time kind of alongside us sort of waiting for us to make free choices as us and God walk through time together.
But here's the interesting thought. God has always been here in 2008 watching and knowing whatever free choice you are making in this present moment. He was here when you were in 2002 and right now he is with you in 2009 also.
This is a massive problem for you because you are moving through time in a "series" of present moments , but for God this is not a problem because all these present moments are not in sequence like they are for you .For him they are just as presently "now" as this one is for you.This is because in a sense we are fragmented through time experiencing it a little bit at a time in small slices of "nows" a bit at a time. This makes it hard for us to comprehend how God can do what he does. But really it's just a matter of him being a dimension beyond what we can logically comprehend.
1) If you have free will and right now you make a free choice between A or B then God would know that choice outcome right now in this present moment.
Okay , if you see no problem with this then I would ask you to think about the following....
Let's say you choose B right now . Okay, Back in what for you was 2002 this choice outcome B in 2008 was what you would have called your "future" but now it is what you call the "present" . You have no problem with the idea that God can be here in 2008 knowing the choice you are making in this present moment (except it's now just become your past).
Back in 2002 you would also have had no problem with God knowing your choices in that present moment either. The difficulty is that in 2002 you would have said something like "there's no way that God can know what I will choose in march 2008 in the future if my choices are free" .
BUT , here God is (if he exists) knowing precisely the free choice you are making and you have no problem with that because it's now the present and not the future any more (at least for you it isn't).
The point of this is that we imagine that an eternal God would have to travel through time kind of alongside us sort of waiting for us to make free choices as us and God walk through time together.
But here's the interesting thought. God has always been here in 2008 watching and knowing whatever free choice you are making in this present moment. He was here when you were in 2002 and right now he is with you in 2009 also.
This is a massive problem for you because you are moving through time in a "series" of present moments , but for God this is not a problem because all these present moments are not in sequence like they are for you .For him they are just as presently "now" as this one is for you.This is because in a sense we are fragmented through time experiencing it a little bit at a time in small slices of "nows" a bit at a time. This makes it hard for us to comprehend how God can do what he does. But really it's just a matter of him being a dimension beyond what we can logically comprehend.