As a child, I used to fear hell a lot and constantly worry I had committed the unpardonable sin. At this point in my life, I don't care--I don't know if any god exists or not and I can't pretend to be certain a god exists when I'm not. If there's a god out there who wants to send me to hell for...
Well, let me put it this way. If God can see the future and see our choices and actions taking place, is there anything we could choose to do differently than what he already sees and knows we will do?
Knowing may not be causing, but if there is no other option for our choices other than what exists in the mind of God, then how can we be said to be free in any sense of the word? If my future actions are constrained by whatever God knows I will do and I can't act outside of that, then I am not...
Free will can't exist if God knows the future, only the illusion of it can. Think about it, if everything you will do is known with absolute, unchangeable certainty in the mind of God then in what sense could you be said to have free will? You would feel like you are making choices but in...
I don't understand what you mean by there being no higher meaning than to seek justice on behalf of God's empty promises. I can't even tell if you believe in God or not tbh, or what you are arguing with
Like I mentioned in the post you quoted, there are also many bad things that happen that have nothing to do with human behavior. An omnipotent god whose top priority is to prevent these things cannot exist by definition. So what is God's top priority?
Yes, you're right, of course they would be fulfilled--that's the point of my argument, so I'm glad you understand that part, since it seems that others have missed it. I wasn't just referring to bad things humans do to each other, but also to bad things in general that happen, such as starvation...
If God exists and knows everything I will do for the rest of my life and it is impossible for me to do anything different than what already exists in God's mind, can I really be said to have a choice? Of course not. I might have the illusion of choice, but it's just that, an illusion. By...
Well, if God prioritized everything equally, then effectively he would not care about anything, yes? I don't think we'll get far in a discussion by just dismissing words as anthropomorphisms even though ALL words technically are. I'm not trying to defeat religion, I don't make the assertion that...
Then in your example, God's top priority is not having a relationship with humans, it's giving humans free will, which is a higher priority than having a relationship with humans in your example above. I should add that it's ironic that theists talk so much about free will when it's obvious...
I suppose you are technically right, it is possible that a god exists that prioritizes all possible outcomes equally, and effectively does not care at all about what happens in the universe, but this god would definitely not be the god of classical theism.
Because if he didn't implement it then there would be some reason preventing him from doing so, either 1) he is not omnipotent and therefore not God or 2) he has a higher priority conflicting with this priority, in which case it wouldn't be his top priority. For clarification, I'm defining...