In Other Words

Omniscience - Free Will

Main Entry: om•ni•scient
Pronunciation: -sh&nt
Function: adjective
Etymology: New Latin omniscient-, omnisciens, back-formation from Medieval Latin omniscientia
1 : having infinite awareness, understanding, and insight
2 : possessed of universal or complete knowledge


Main Entry: free will
Function: noun
1 : voluntary choice or decision [I do this of my own free will]
2 : freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention
(from the webster.com)

I realise that this paradox has been around for a long time, but I feel that I have to express it. It occurred to me again today on the train. I want to discuss the omniscience - free will paradox.

If God is all knowing (the very definition of omniscient and something that the Bible, the Koran and the Torah all claim) then how can we have free will? Let me explain.

If something is all knowing then, by its definition, it knows the past, the present and the future. It knows, at the very moment it considers doing something, what the result of that action will be, to the smallest detail. If it moves a hand this way, it will know if that will start a storm in China and it will also know the ultimate repercussions throughout all time and for ever.

There is no uncertainty in omniscience. All knowing means all knowing, period. It does not mean ‘this action will probably have this effect’ it means ‘this action will have this affect and affect all of time in this way.’ Probability plays no role in omniscience.

God created humanity. We ‘know’ this because it says that in the scriptures. So, at the very time God created man it knew, by the definition of omniscience, what that meant. It knew exactly what putting every cell in this or that way meant and it knew exactly what two arms meant over three arms. In fact, when God created man he knew that that would ultimately lead to me writing this and you reading this. That is the nature of omniscience.

So where does free will fit in? Free will means that reality has some degree of freedom, at least for humanity. Free will, by its very nature, undermines omniscience. If you cannot know what we are going to do, well then you can’t be omniscient, can you?

Many would argue that we have free will, but God knows what we are going to use it for. God knows exactly what we are going to do, before we do it. That, I say, isn’t free will. That is the illusion of free will. I’m fine with that, but at least put that in your books, in that case. Omniscience undermines free will and free will undermines omniscience.

What does that mean? It means that at the creation of time God knew the doubters from the faithful, knew the believers from the atheists. He knew, as a matter of fact, who would go to heaven and who would burn in hell. He knew that if he would have moved this atom in that way then these people would have gone to heaven instead of hell. That isn’t all that forgiving, is it?

posted by Symbol @ 13.10.05