[ATLian]

I still cannot understand how you can say that god knows exactly what Peter will do at 12:15 pm tomorrow - then in the same breath you say that Peter has the free will to either do that thing or not do it. The fact that god knows means that that thing, and only that thing, has to be done at 12:15. The fact that Peter has to do that thing, and can only do that thing, means he has no free will at all. He cannot do another thing. He cannot be at another place. He has to be where god knows he'll be so he can do what god knows he'll do. How do you still then claim that he has free will? Free will strips god of his omniscience and brings in the other option that Christians hate - predestination.

I think the problem is that when man created god, man gave god so many attributes that couldn't hold after a while. So, not suprisingly, some are now very obviously contradictory. The free will vs omniscience is one of the contradictions. So is god's omnibenevolence vs the evils that happen to his creation. etc.

The reason why believers of Religion X are so quick to condemn Religion Y and critique it's ambiguities, contradictions, violent parts, etc, is because they don't believe in Religion Y. This means they can look at Religion Y objectively. That's also the reason why believers of Religion X will see the specks in Religion Y's eyes but never see the log in their eyes, and why many discussions, like the above one, will never be concluded unless the believers can remove their tainted shades and look at the issue at hand objectively and without any religious bias...

It must be tough at times to be a believer. You are confronted with what is so obviously a contradiction, but you cannot admit it is coz that's tantamount to blasphemy or whatever. So you go to great lengths to try rationalize and justify or explain it. This extreme form of rationalization is what enables a believer to say with conviction that god is good, loving and just despite the fact that he has killed innocent babies and children over and over again. Or to say that yes, god knows all your future actions, but you have free will in deciding to do them or not. Hello, let's remove the blinders. The Emporor has no clothes. There is a pink elephant in the room. Or whichever other metaphor you want to use...