Subject:
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Re: The Brick Testament parts the Red Sea
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sat, 7 Dec 2002 03:35:38 GMT
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Viewed:
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1910 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, David Eaton writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Nathan Todd writes:
> > In lugnet.off-topic.debate, David Eaton writes:
snip lots of stuff
>
> Option #1: We have free will. We can choose what we want, and it's not
> predetermined or known by God how we will choose. If this is true, then God
> is at the very least imperfect in terms of his unknowingness. But also,
> since we (having free will) are actually capable of choosing *evil*; and
> because God *created* us with that capacity, score God up with another
> imperfection.
>
> Note that if option #1 is to be belived, I'm not totally against accepting a
> possible variation on God. I could probably accept a God who wasn't perfect;
> but only if he admitted his imperfections and appeared to me to be
> well-intentioned. That's the only way he'd get my worship.
>
> Option #2: We don't have REAL free will. We do what we think of as
> "choosing", but really, we're already predetermined to make the choices that
> we'll make. Further, because this was known by God at the time he created
> us, it's really not *US* choosing, but God. It was up to God whether or not
> I decide to be evil, not me. It was up to God to decide to make me "choose"
> to have an affair with my neighbor's wife or to give food to needy families.
>
> However, because it was *God*'s choice, not mine, I personally don't find it
> "fair" to punish or reward me based on my "choices". God made the choices
> for me when he came up with his universal plan. He decided long ago whether
> or not I'll go to Heaven or Hell. Why should I accept responsibility for
> choices I didn't actually make?
>
> Hence, option #2 results in more of an existentialist viewpoint for me. If
> my life's been pre-determined, and I'm obviously predisposed to disbelieve
> in, or at the least not love/worship God, what's the point in me attempting
> to better myself to that end? Why should I even try? If it's in God's plan,
> it'll happen anyway, and if it's not, it won't happen despite my most
> valient efforts. Either way, my choice doesn't matter because it's not
> really my choice.
big snip again
> DaveE
What if free choice is something like Quantum Physics (QP)? I've read
somewhere that according to QP, ALL events happen, we just experience the ones
we choose (the other events are potential parrallel universes--what would
happen if JFK wasn't shot?, etc.) So, overall, the 'timelines' of our lives
would be like an infinitely braching tree from God's POV. We would eliminate
or highlight certain branches by our choices. Once we eliminate them, the
other potential parrallel universes cease to exist.
Jeff (who watches a LOT of Star Trek
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: The Brick Testament parts the Red Sea
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| (...) Nah, I won't take offense. I try not to let anything said in o-t-debate get to me-- it takes all the fun out of it :) (...) No, I don't believe in him, but for the sake of the argument at hand, I'm taking it as a given. Well, ok, that's not (...) (22 years ago, 6-Dec-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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