Quote Originally Posted by PostmodernProphet View Post
??..do you think sin is God's will?
Yes....all that is was created by God and why would God create something that was not of his will? God created sin in order to provide an environment of choice. If God had not created sin how would we be in a state of choice at any time?

.....your error regarding predestination is thinking that God's knowledge of our choice CAUSES our choice.....that could only be true if we shared God's knowledge....

let's say, for example, that if you choose to go to work tomorrow using a slightly more roundabout, but scenic route, that you will be broadsided by a driver blowing through a stoplight and you will die.......God knows that......does the fact that God knows this cause you to decide anything differently about which route to take to work?......no.....because God knows it, you don't.....you freely choose which route to take.....Now, let's say God doesn't want you dead this week because he has a use for you....."Dang, why didn't the alarm clock go off, now I'm going to be late for work"....or "Why do I have to have a flat tire now!"......maybe it even goes so far as your wife saying "I had a strange dream last night, don't go to work today".......now you could still blow off all those things, take the scenic route and die.....it's your choice....
So what you are saying is that if God has something else planned for us next week God can "influence" our choices by causing the alarm clock to not go off, cause a flat tire, or influence the wife's dreams, etc. How is that not some form of manipulation of destiny?

now, substitute believing in God for driving to work.....God knows what you are going to choose.....he knows what path you followed and what steps you had to encounter before you made that decision.....He's prepared to put all those steps in place for you......but you are still the one who has to make that choice.......for others, God is aware that no matter what steps he places for them, they are going to repeatedly make the wrong choices.....that doesn't mean he's making the choices for them......
So, if God knows which path I am going to choose, because God already has knowledge of the choices I will make, why does God even bother with putting the steps there?

See, this is where the whole argument falls apart for me. I make the choices, but only based upon whatever choices God puts in front of me, and that is based upon what path God already knows I am going down. How is that free will.....God knows and is just providing the nudges to keep me on the path he already knows I am following???


Goodness, how exhausting for God to be so involved in all these souls and all the complexities of decisions made very day.....