I just want to get my first impressions down. First, I now agree with most of the classical view that God knows all that will happen based on our free will, but I still had some arguments come up in my mind.
I found this paragraph particularly interesting because these statements seem to be saying exactly what I have interpreted from Boyd, but it is claimed that it is the classical view!
"Finally, classical theism offers several arguments for God's total omniscience, including future free acts. For one, an omniscient God knows all the states of reality, both actual and potential. God's knowledge is not simply of the actual; He also knows the potential. He knows both what is and what could be. He knows what will be and what can be. For God can know whatever is real in any way it can be known. And both the actual and the potential are real. Only the impossible has no reality. Thus, whatever is potential is real. This being the case, it follows that God can know what is potential as well as what is actual.26 This means that God can know future contingents, that is, things that are dependent on free choice. For the future is a potential that pre-exists in God. And God knows whatever exists in Himself as the cause of those things.27"
So it is claimed that God can know future contingents (options) that are dependent on free will.....I thought this is what we were arguing about. Unless I am misinterpreting this paragraph, the same argument is being made, so I will try to explain why I feel this dude and Boyd may be correct on this specific topic.
Saying that God knows all future contingents, is saying that he does not know for certain exactly what will play out. This DOES NOT mean that prophecies in the Bible may not occur. The point is that God left free will to us. He knows each of us has the potential to take many different directions in life with His guidance, but His overall vision for His creation will not change. For instance, you may have been around the day Jesus was to be crucified, but there is nothing you could have done differently to change what would happen. Jesus dying on the cross for humanity was His plan. However, you could have prayed to God today to bring yourself closer to Him. Based on that prayer you feel inspired to make a change in your life that you did not see before. That was your free will to pray. Given to you by God. You could have chosen not to pray. God knew both contingents. Both of them may have eventually led you to the same place, but they are different contingencies nonetheless. He knows an infinite number of contingencies, but none of those contingencies stray from His ultimate plan.
Do I believe this? While reading this response article, I got the sense that I could conceive a reality where God has ONE plan. Where every detail is already determined. God just knows how free will plays out for everyone. I'm still very much on the fence on this one...here are my thoughts on both.
I would rather live in a world where people have a range of potentials to serve and glorify God than a world where people have free will....but really God already knows where our free will takes us. God has the ability to inspire us to change. We have the option to not change. He wants us to love Him, and that is only possible through our choice. God is infallible and omnipotent, but He gave us the option to come to Him. For this reason, I believe individuals have varying potentials granted to them by God. He knows that full range in an infinite detail. He ultimately decides the fate of creation, but it is up to creation to choose which path they go down to reach His goal.
....but, here is the other side of it for me. God knows all time and all the intricacies within that time. He knows each of us infinitely well. For this reason, he knows exactly which decisions we will freely make. He knows when we will pray and when we will not. He knows when we will glorify Him and when we will not. From the instant of creation, he knew this. There is then one plan with no contingencies.
What Boyd is saying here is:
ReplyDeleteNot that God knows what the outcome of those particular contingencies are, but that he knows the particular contingencies.
Let me illustrate. If you are playing Chess with a Grand Master and you are just a novice at Chess. At a certain point in the game the Grand Master knows that there are 6 possible choices you could make for the next move. Now, he doesn't know which one of those 6 choices you will take - but he knows intimately the 6 possible options.
God knows the options, He just doesn't know the particular selection of the options.
In Classical Theism they suggest that God knows the particular selection in advance. This is part of where the two views are different.
Thank you! This has helped me think and write more on this topic.
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