I'm feeling pretty... Blackpilled, at the moment. Maybe even worse than that. Things are bad. Things keep getting worse. Not just politically, but... As a human being. All the failed relationships, all the lost friendships, all the... Shit, that has happened in my life, is sort of getting to me pretty bad.
But more than that, it feels like we're losing. Like things... Are spiralling out of control (in Aus, but also outside it). I literally can't look at ANY popular media, or any sort of news, without being utterly bombarded by it.
So... If you've got a good "whitepill", or just... Something that counteracts all this... Existential angst, and feelings of sheer... Doom, I would appreciate hearing it, I guess. Thanks. While it lasts, and while I last.
So did God know at the beginning of the world what choice David would eventually make? If He did, where exactly is the "choice" or "free will" afforded to David? If He didn't, He's not omniscient.
1 Kings 22:19-22 seems to indicate that God is aware of all possible outcomes and holds His tongue about them.
This is a serious question, I'm not trying to derail our conversation: if God is a "perfect observer" (in a scientific sense) how does His omniscience deny free will? If you stand over the maze and can see every outcome from the beginning, how are you robbing the mouse of its will?
Thank you for taking me seriously (I think...one can never rule out trolls here on the internet)
To put it bluntly, it would be a fair scientific experiment if you only designed the maze and were trying to understand the behavior of the mouse in that environment.
My trouble is that God (purportedly) designed both the maze and the mouse. Exactly what are you trying to learn about the mouse by subjecting it to suffering if you already know everything about it?
My optimistic answer to these riddles is that God had no choice but to introduce suffering into the world in order to come to know more about Himself.
Your solution isn't a bad one. I think that sort of rationalization is an important first step. However, my problem with all "problems of evil" or "free will / omnipotence conflicts" is that they put tremendous demands and assumptions on God. Namely, they assume that suffering is bad and demand that God stop it. I don't want to get into that conversation, it doesn't work in an online setting, but let me say that of course torture, rape, murder, and death are bad. That's not what I'm saying.
Sticking to our topic, here's how I see things. I'm not even arguing that I'm correct, just giving you something to consider. God forms creation. He knows there's a probability that man and His divine servants will make choices so terrible, that eventually it would be better to eliminate creation than let it continue. He also knows that to tweak things so that such an outcome can't arise would fundamentally change things beyond the scope of His original goal.
I do not claim to know the mind of God, but something is very clear in the Bible: He enjoys company. He doesn't need anything. But He wants a divine council to discuss with and free-willed human agents to carry out His will within creation. He can and will step in when His agents fail completely. That is arguably why Jesus came to earth, rather than the Israelites receiving their assumed warrior-king. But He is usually willing to wait centuries for someone to obey Him rather than intervene Himself.
Taking the "problem of evil" seriously is like asking "why did God make gravity attractive? Is He not omnipotent enough to make it repulsive?" Yes, of course He could. But then the universe would be so fundamentally different that the thought experiment is pointless. Better questions are "why does gravity have the acceleration that it does? what causes gravity? what purpose does gravity serve for God?" I believe God likes rules as much as the next entity. He didn't set out to create an existence with suffering, but He knew there was a good chance it would come about due to the actions of created beings. Ultimately, He loves you, Schmendrick_Lamar, in exactly the configuration you're in now in the universe you're in now and He wants to see you make the correct decision so that, as your Father, He can be proud of you. He doesn't want to make them for you.