Excerpt from a dialogue on Divine Omniscience and Free Will

(*The following is an excerpt from a dialogue elsewhere. What follows is new commentary on the discussion. You can read the entire conversation--as well as others--here: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5823596693953871104&postID=8531871805160706937)

I said: Just because you can't reconcile them doesn't mean they can't be reconciled. The Bible is full of conditional statements ... we have freedom within certain parameters. For example, repent or perish. God is not surprised by either outcome and there is no third option. You either repent, or you perish. A or B. If A, God knows and His knowledge is True. If B, then God knows and His knowledge is True. Modal logic vindicates God since His knowledge is always True and He can never be surprised.

BeamStalk - Rocky S. replied: Really this is your argument? You are saying God knows every possible outcome, right? So he still doesn't know which path you are going to take, so he is not omniscient. You are just saying he knows where every path leads. Well then we have freewill and God is not omniscient. Now if he knows the exact path we are going to take before we take it, then he is creating people to burn in hell. There he is omniscient, but freewill does not exist because you are already predestined to your path.

Well, BeamStalk, I suppose that all depends on your definition of what it means to "know" something. If we define "knowledge" as "a justified true belief" (the common epistemological definition) then your objection fails. Let's see why.

First, "justified true belief" means that for any individual, they must believe some proposition or thing [i.e. have a belief], they must have reason for believing this proposition or thing [i.e. are "justified" in believing this is so], and finally this justified belief must be true [i.e. you cannot "know" something that is false].

So, does God "know" all things on the model I have presented or is His knowledge incomplete as BeamStalk suggests? I didn't argue that God simply knows every outcome (as BeamStalk suggests), but that He knows the entire range of choices possible at any given moment (which is actually restricted to only two options, despite the logical possibilty of any other number of possibilities based on human nature and the Sovereign will of God to design the world with these parameters). The core of the objection lies in this statement: So he still doesn't know which path you are going to take, so he is not omniscient. But is this really the case or has BeamStalk merely misunderstood the argument?

On the model I suggested, at any given moment (t) there are precisely two options for any human agent (S) ... either to do God's will (A) or to do their own will (B). [This argument at present is ignoring the possibility that this model only applies to individuals who are saved, since non-believers are slaves to sin they only have option B without the grace of God.] So, at any given time t the scenario can be expressed by a disjunction: A or B. Of course, God knows the outcome of each alternative so a more complex disjunction could be expressed that includes conditionals: (A > a) v (B > b). For the present argument, the outcomes are agreed to be known so I will focus only on the simple disjunction which is the point of contention.

So, we have the scenario (A v B). BeamStalk says that if Man is truly free, then God does not know which option will be chosen at any particular t, so therefore God does not "know" something and is something less than omniscient. But this is a false analysis of the scenario. On this model, can we say that God believes the individual will choose (A v B)? Yes we can. Can we say that God is justified in this belief? Yes we can (since He determined the parameters). Can we say that this justified belief is true? If either A or B is chosen, then the disjunct has a True value. On this model, God's knowledge is complete (since He knows both the actual outcome and the possible outcome of every choice made at all times t), and God's knowledge is True. Not only does God know all things, He even knows all possible things.

The objection that God still doesn't know what someone will choose is an appeal to credulity, since based on the best definitions we have of knowledge, logic, and truth, Divine Omniscience and Human freedom of the will can be shown to be compatible. It may not seem like God "knows," but on this model clearly He does.

The final part of BeamStalk's objection takes for granted that if God knows then He must determine. In a certain sense, God has predetermined the path for everyone ... either they will go to hell if they obey their own will or they will go to heaven if they obey His will (which is for them to repent and believe in the One He has sent, Jesus Christ). However, just because there is a dualism in the determination (i.e. heaven or hell, there is no third alternative) the freedom to choose our own destiny lies in our own hands. God has provided the grace necessary to turn to Him and the righteousness needed to save us from death (eternally). However, He has also given us great freedom in deciding our own destiny (see Deuteronomy 30:11-19, 2 Peter 3:9).

In my estimation the greatest act of God's power ever witnessed was not creating the heavens and the earth or becoming a man or even raising Jesus (and others) from the dead ... the greatest act of God's power in my opinion was exercised when He restrained Himself from forcing us to worship and obey Him. It was completely within His power to compel our obedience, yet He does not. I'm not sure that if I were Him I would allow humans the freedom that He has since most of them abuse it and curse His name in the process. I for one am thankful that God hasn't compelled our obedience, however, for now eternity spent with God can be an eternity of fellowship and not forced slavery. Hallelujah.