Either you have free will id God is not omniscient. You cannot have it both ways.,/i>
1) I defined God as omniscient and defined the human condition as one with free will, without contradiction. I believe the argument I presented is sound but am open to challenges.
2) I recognized that my reasoning is not congruent with most religious dogma or religious authority. So going to religious doctrine or to religious spokespersons is out of context with my reasoning, and is not a legitimate challenge. I already know and have stated there is dissonence in that area.
3) If you want to look at the reasoning I use and challenge it, I am all ears, if you want to tell me that one religion or another, or some authoritative spokes person has something else to say, fine... but it really isn't applicable to the argument.
"predestination- -you're fate and final destination of Heaven or Hell are determined st birth."
I covered that in my argument about time being only a dimension of temporal experience. An omniscient being would be eternally aware every choice and experience without having to wait and see. Knowledge of, or awareness of, all 'time' past/present/future is not the same as determining for you how you will choose to live your life.
Finally, I don't buy into the faith based declarations of who goes to heaven or hell based on dogma or cultural mores. If there is an omniscient judge, that judge is not bound by the corrupt religious authorities in existence.
I like to use the Huck Finn choice as an example and believe that we all choose a good and righteous path, or a selfish and corrupt path. However, religious authorities, tests of fellowship, declarations of faith, and religious dogma are about the worst measure of who has made a good and decent choice in any given circumstance vs who has not.
The expression of free will is the point at which your relationship with a good and just being is established, and only at that point. So, in some circumstances, the Huck Finn type atheist (or rejector of religious ordinance) may be the only person choosing a path that is decent and good, which would of course mean that a true and just God would elevate such a character above all others regardless of the opinion of those sources you referenced, or society's general views at the moment. That was the point of Twains story.
Having said all that, I want to make it clear that I am not rejecting all religion or religious principle. I am simple stating my belief that interpretation of religious doctrine by authorities tends toward depersonalization of the relationship with an omniscient and omnipresent being by setting up tremendous dogmatic barriers to our awareness of the eternal. |
