02 Dec '06 15:41>
I keep hearing this argument that somehow free will can't exist because God is omnipotent and nothing happens without him initiating it.
According to this argument the universe/existence is entirely deterministic ruling out any chance of true free will. Therefore we cannot have free will because everything can be traced back to God's initiation or omnipotent power.
I don't get this myself and here's why...
1) If God is truely ominpotent then he must be the Uncaused Cause , the foundation of everything that exists for whom no initiation is necessary. God does not rely on being determined by anything because there is nothing greater than him to initiate him. He has no beginning , he is eternal (ref-Christian Theology)
2) It follows logically from 1) that there is at least one thing in existence that has real free will because God is not subject to determinism being omnipotent and Uncaused. (NB-The only other option to 2) is to have an infinite regress of caused causes that never ends which is mind boggling , or to say that the universe came out of nothing and has no cause or reason , but this would suggest that the universe itself is indeterminate and not necessarily governed by hard determinism , in either case God would not exist and not be omnipotent)
3) If God has free will and is all powerful , why is it so impossible or hard for him to share that very free will with us?
To me God's omnipotence is vital to have any chance to have free will in the universe but I know some of you Atheists think that God should be able to create real free will and also prevent any of us from going astray at the same time , which to me is logically absurd. So I guess it shouldn't suprise me if you also have funny ideas about omnipotence as well
According to this argument the universe/existence is entirely deterministic ruling out any chance of true free will. Therefore we cannot have free will because everything can be traced back to God's initiation or omnipotent power.
I don't get this myself and here's why...
1) If God is truely ominpotent then he must be the Uncaused Cause , the foundation of everything that exists for whom no initiation is necessary. God does not rely on being determined by anything because there is nothing greater than him to initiate him. He has no beginning , he is eternal (ref-Christian Theology)
2) It follows logically from 1) that there is at least one thing in existence that has real free will because God is not subject to determinism being omnipotent and Uncaused. (NB-The only other option to 2) is to have an infinite regress of caused causes that never ends which is mind boggling , or to say that the universe came out of nothing and has no cause or reason , but this would suggest that the universe itself is indeterminate and not necessarily governed by hard determinism , in either case God would not exist and not be omnipotent)
3) If God has free will and is all powerful , why is it so impossible or hard for him to share that very free will with us?
To me God's omnipotence is vital to have any chance to have free will in the universe but I know some of you Atheists think that God should be able to create real free will and also prevent any of us from going astray at the same time , which to me is logically absurd. So I guess it shouldn't suprise me if you also have funny ideas about omnipotence as well