Open Theism vs. Closed Theism :: Essays Papers

Open Theism vs. close TheismThis topic is ane that has had my curiosity piqued for the last few years and is one I provoke made a point of discussing with many bulk over the course of that time. I have heard many incompatible viewpoints, some who have been adamant for Gods omniscience and knowledge of the future and others who have presented make arguments for free will. Most, however argon of a third category who have come to grips with the fact that our mere brains cannot understand the workings of God and are content to wait for an answer until they are able to ask them themselves if/when they begin to Heaven. I myself throw this latter idea to be a nigh(a) fallback, but am restless in my pursuit for an answer. For neither the deterministic nor the liberalist perspective seem to have me convinced for it seems to me like both of these beliefs precede you in a dire catch-22 if you insist on complete emancipation, you reverberate Gods knowledge but if you insist on Gods k nowledge, then you limit humanitys freedom neither of which leave my mind at rest in who I know God to be and what His scripture has revealed to us in His foot of humanity. So I am left with an unsettled feeling that at that place must exist a third alternative--one that encompasses both Gods complete omniscience and humanitys unleashed freedom. The imminent established belief I would at this point categorize myself with believe would be that of St. Thomas Aquinas and Anselm, which you site on pg. 119 of your text. The pitfall I see in the libertarians viewpoint is their assumption that foreknowledge implies cause. For instance, by their mind of foreknowledge, if Chris were to somehow know beforehand what the outcome of a football back would be, but were nothing more than a spectator in the stands, Chris, by this knowledge, somehow CAUSED the outcome of the game to end the way it did. This does not hold up in common sense. Just because Chris somehow were able to have what woul d happen does not mean that he, by the same token, CAUSED it to happen. And such is the typeface with God. Just because God KNOWS what will happen in the future of the domain of a function does not mean that he literally entered the game and caused it to happen.