Determinism: the Theological problem
Okay, so I mislead you on my last post when I said that next I was going to present the Christian response. The truth is there are MANY "Christian" responses to the problem posed by physical determinism (the topic discussed below). So what I shall attempt to do is give the reader the most common views that have been forwarded by Christian thinkers throughout history, culminating in what hopefully will be my own view and why I find it to be the most compelling. (as a note of preface, "my" view is a modification/alteration/combination of some of the historical Christian views: I do not take credit for "producing" my view).
Before I do any of this above however, I must first restate the problem in terms of a theological starting point. I have already shown that the brute physical determinist (the view below) is self-refuting, and therefore incoherent. What I haven't yet shown is that there at least seem to be similar difficulties with the notion of God's foreknowledge and our "responsibility" for our actions. (The problem is philosophical in nature, not theological). It is crucial to point out that my discussion here is a philosophical discussion, not a theological one; what I mean by this is that biblically the truth is clear: 1. we are responsible for our sins, and 2. God knows, and has known the future since before the foundations of the world, yet 3. God is not the author of sin; we are. This theological answer is fine for us believers, and I believe it wholeheartedly. The question I am raising however is the philosophical explanation of how 1, 2, and 3 can all be true at the same time and in the same sense. Here's how the problem is usually formulated:
If God knows everything that is currently happening (my typing this blog) from before the foundations of the world, and what God knows about the future must always be correct, then how is it that as I came to the computer this evening that I had any opportunity at all to do otherwise? In other words, it seems that God's foreknowledge necessitates my every action. This might seem benign at first glance, but what about when my actions include sins (which they all too often do)? For example, when I have a lustful thought, that God knew I would have before the foundations of the world, am I able to do otherwise? Could I have chosen to not think that lustful thought? This is the difficulty that seems to arise from God's foreknowledge in relation to our responsibility for sins. Next, I will begin to present Christian answers to this classic worry.
Posted by jeremy stock at February 5, 2001 12:23 AM