I'm an atheist who has done years of bible study in Catholicism. It's the main denomination of Christianity.
CarefreeDude posted...
So if God knows everything, including everything that ever has and ever will happen, doesn't that mean that everything that ever happens is predetermined? And by extension wouldn't that imply that free will is a lie since everything that ever will happen, including this post questioning it, was known by God at the beginning of time?
He has a branching exponential knowledge of everything. He knows all possibilities and the results of everything and all outcomes. You have free will. Angels do not, interestingly, which is what separates them from humans.
CarefreeDude posted...
On that same note, every time God was disappointed in humanity in the Bible, be it the great flood or eating the forbidden fruit, wouldn't he have known about it in advance?
But they do have free will. He was aware of all outcomes. That must give humans some edge over him.
CarefreeDude posted...
Like he would have known the entire human experiment would have been a failure long before he even started it.... unless of course it ultimately ends in a success.
He created humans because he "was so happy that he wanted to share his happiness and be even happier". There's no experiment. A portion of people will go to heaven, and the ones who don't choose him will not.
CarefreeDude posted...
On that same note does God know of any action he himself will ever take?
I'm going to go with yes but I really don't know. It's a work of fiction that's thought up as it goes. The Catholic church has an administration where they meditate on these pressing issues, and anything the pope says is infallible.