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I agree about free will, but free will with an omnipotent Creator is a tricksy thing. Wouldn't God know in advance when he created you exactly what your decisions would be?
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Free will is a tricky thing, but here is how I understand it:
God knows the future in the sense that he knows the end he intends and several events along the way that are "required" to achieve the end. Eru song showed what he new had to happen because he was going to make those thing happen no matter what. Middle Earth would be created. The first and second borns of Illuvaltar would awake and live in this land. He did not know that Melkor would fall nor what he would do. This can be seen since the Silmarilion says that Eru incorporated the best of Melkor's music into his own. If He already knew what Melkor's music would be he would have already incorporated it. It can also be noted that in the vission Eru revealed to the Valar of middle earth, there was no evil and no dwarves or ents for that matter.
God does not know the future in a more specific sense. He does not know every deccision a person will make or even whether the person will do good overall or evil. He does know probabilities. He knows from past decisions what we are
MOST LIKELY going to do. He also knows
EVERY deccision we could possibly make in a given situation. It would be more appropriate to say God knows all
POSSIBLE futures. God can also tell that certain people are more likely to do great things because their parents did, either because of genetics or upbringing or a combination to the two.
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well remember the Sweet is not as Sweet without the Bitter, Eru is GOD we are Talking about......
Could you imagine a world with nothing to fight for.
hope you understand what im trying to say.
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I am afraid I do not understand what you are trying to say. Isn't heaven a world with nothing to fight for and isn't it by definition good?
[ December 27, 2002: Message edited by: Salocin ]
[ December 27, 2002: Message edited by: Salocin ]
[ December 27, 2002: Message edited by: Salocin ]